The New York based monthly, circulated in over 160 countries, has selected the Commercial Bank on the basis of its financial performance in 2001, prudent use of resources and heavy investment in technology and solid capital base and capital adequacy ratios, a bank statement said.

This year's Global Finance survey of the best domestic banks in emerging markets includes famous establishments from Asia like HSBC, ICICI Bank of India, Public Bank of Malaysia, Kookmin Bank of South Korea alongside the Commercial Bank of Ceylon.

Asia Securities Ltd records impressive turnover
Asia Securities (Pvt) Ltd, a leading Sri Lankan stockbroker since 1991, has recorded an impressive turnover with the upturn of the stock market before and after the general elections in December 2001, the company said in a statement.
It is ranked number one based on turnover as well as on brokerage for the calendar year 2001. The company is also ranked number one based on turnover and brokerage for the financial year ending 31 March 2002.

The company said it has maintained its number one or two position based on the cumulative brokerage in the last 10 years. Asia Securities was the first and is still the only stockbroker to introduce and offer Internet based online market data. This online facility enables the company's clients to access live market data from the Colombo Stock Exchange by logging on to www.eTradeCSE.com. The website also enables Asia Securities clients to place orders to buy or sell stocks via the Internet from anywhere in the world.

Asia Securities Ltd promoted Asia Capital Ltd in 1994 and now is positioned as a diversified holding company engaged in an array of business activities ranging from financial services, insurance, debt securities, apparel manufacturing to information technology. The board of directors of Asia Securities Ltd are chairman - Nigel Austin, CEO - Tushan Wickramasinghe, executive directors - Dirk Flamer-Caldera, Priyani Ratna-Gopal and Dushyanth Wijesinghe and non-executive director - Asanga Seneviratne.

Human Resources Ball 2002
The Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) and the Association of Human Resources Professionals (AHRP) together with the Human Resource Division of SriLankan Airlines have joined hands to organise the first ever Human Resources Ball on June 28 at the Colombo Hilton.

This social event will provide the preliminary platform for Human Resources professionals to meet and form closer ties. The dance will also provide a unique opportunity to provide Human Resources professionals in different fields to join up with representatives of the state, the pubic sector and the private sector, employer organisations and employee organisations at the highest level to interact in a relaxed environment.

This will facilitate greater fellowship and integration among the Human Resources community in the nation, a SriLankan Airlines statement said.

BOI uplifts bra business
A British company has signed an agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) to manufacture moulded bra (brassiere) cups and laminated bra material for export, making Sri Lanka the "intimate apparel centre of the world," a BOI press release said.

The total investment for this project by Jessop and Baird Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is Rs. 506 million, the statement said adding this was among 13 agreements signed by the BOI in April worth Rs. 2. 5 billion.

Another significant project is in the tourism sector with Male-based Cyprea (Pvt) Ltd investing Rs. 760 million in taking over the assets of the Sinbad Hotel and upgrading it to international standards.

Vehicles Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, a Japan-Sri Lanka joint venture, is assembling motor vehicles for the local market using imported second-hand motor vehicle parts from Japan. This project will be located at Homagama with an investment of Rs. 500 million.

Linea Sensual (Pvt) Ltd from the Mas Holdings group has signed yet another agreement to manufacture ladies underwear. These include briefs and lingerie for the UK market.

SIA'S first SpaceBed aircraft takes off
Singapore Airlines' (SIA) first SpaceBed equipped aircraft, a B747 Megatop, took off last week on the Singapore-London route.

An SIA statement said the new Raffles Class lie-flat seat, the SpaceBed, is designed to afford more space and comfort for business travellers.
Besides a wider and longer sleeping surface, the SpaceBed's unique cushioning system conforms more effectively to the body's contours, allowing passengers to rest even more comfortably in their preferred sleeping positions.

Each SpaceBed comes equipped with KrisWorld, SIA's new-generation inflight entertainment system based on Matsushita Avionic's latest MAS 3000 system. It offers unrivalled high quality digital sound and pictures on demand on a 10.4 inch high-resolution monitor.

Installed at a cost of $100 million, SpaceBeds will be retrofitted over the next year on 45 B747 Megatops and B777-200ER (extended range) aircraft serving long and medium haul destinations.

High charcoal prices affect profits
Haycarb, the subsidiary of the Hayleys conglomerate that makes activated carbon from coconut shell charcoal, has said high charcoal prices could affect profits this year.

"The shortfall in coconut crops on account of the drought that has prevailed is propelling charcoal prices upwards," chairman Sunil Mendis said in his annual report to shareholders for the year ending March 31, 2002.

"The current year's profitability is likely to be adversely affected by high raw material prices, which cannot be absorbed into selling prices due to competition," he said. Raw charcoal prices rose by three percent in the year under review.

The group made a pre-tax profit of Rs. 260 million, down 22 percent from the previous year's exceptionally good result, he said. Profit after tax was Rs. 160 million. Sales of pellet carbon improved and contributed well to the bottom line.
Competition from producers in India, Malaysia, Vietnam, in addition to the traditional sources in Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia has put pressure on Haycarb prices, Mendis said.

Export volumes from Sri Lanka fell eight percent, while unit prices in dollars fell 10 percent, he said. Savings on electricity derived from the operation of the turbine using waste heat and steam at the Madampe plant were significant, Mendis said.
Carbokarn, the subsidiary in Thailand, improved on its performance, with local sales volumes growing steadily. The Thai operation will not be affected by high charcoal prices.

Neither the terrorist attacks in the United States last September, nor the recession in the West, have affected demand for carbon, Mendis said. "Contrary to what one might have imagined, there has been no upsurge in the market for gas mask carbon," he said adding that improved gold prices may, with time, see a resumption of activity from this sector.

In its purification engineering or waste treatment business, Mendis said the company was disappointed to lose some big government tenders to foreign suppliers "purportedly because Puritas price was too low to lend confidence in the system offered".

Bids were put out for more than 60 projects after lab and pilot scale trials on most effluents. Seven projects were completed in the year as against five the previous year.

US, Lanka sign deal on air transport security
An Open Skies Air Transport Agreement signed between the United States and Sri Lanka last week provides for co-operation in air traffic security and safety and strengthens economic ties between the two countries.

Sri Lanka is the second South Asian country, after Pakistan, to sign an Open Skies treaty with the US. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando signed the air transport agreement in Washington on June 11. It was actually concluded in October 2001 by U.S. and Sri Lankan negotiators.

The Open Skies agreement creates "opportunities to strengthen economic relations between the United States and Sri Lanka through closer links in transport, trade and tourism", a State Department statement said.

The agreement breaks new ground in creating opportunities to strengthen economic relations between the United States and Sri Lanka through closer links in transport, trade and tourism, it said.

It provides for immediate implementation of most Open Skies provisions, including substantially open route rights, unrestricted capacity and frequencies and code-sharing opportunities.

A transitional annexure provides for full implementation of the remaining Open Skies provisions within a few years and covers pricing, ground-handling, passenger charters and US-Sri Lanka-India passenger services.

The Open Skies agreement creates opportunities for Sri Lankan and American air carriers to develop both countries' aviation market and potentially beyond to include other partners.

Elephant Corridor appoints GM
Fareen Haniffa, an experienced Sri Lankan hotelier with overseas exposure, has been appointed general manager of "The Elephant Corridor", the newest hotel at Sigiriya which opens to the public later this year.

A statement said Haniffa had earlier worked with the La Reserve hotel in the Seychelles and has had experience in Japan, Switzerland and the UK. In Sri Lanka, he has trained and worked with the Taj group and several other hotels.

Music industry sounds off
CD burning contributed to a surge in music piracy across the globe in 2001, with sales of pirated discs jumping an estimated 50 percent from the previous year, according to a global industry report released last week.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a lobbying group, said pirated disc sales jumped from 640 million units in 2000 to 950 million units in 2001.

However, declining prices kept the total value of the unauthorised CD market nearly flat, at an estimated $4.3 billion worldwide in 2001 compared with $4.2 billion the previous year. Because those numbers use the prices for pirated discs and not legal prices, they do not measure the full economic loss to the recording industry, the IFPI said. In addition, they do not include the value of music traded online over free file-swapping services.

The IFPI attributed the proliferation of illegal music to organised CD-R (CD-recordable discs) piracy. It said illegal production is roughly split between large-scale manufacturing plants and small garages and laboratories. The group added that the widespread availability of cheap disc-replication equipment, the prevalence of high-speed burners, and a drop in blank CD-R prices are fueling the growth of CD-R piracy in countries including the United States.

According to the IFPI, 2.8 million pirated CD-R discs were seized in the United States last year, compared with 1.6 million in 2000. Moreover, the IFPI said various online peer-to-peer services have encouraged the widespread unauthorised copying of music. The IFPI said the Web is being used to sell counterfeit, unauthorised compilation and other physical pirated products. The IFPI estimated that in May 2002, there were approximately 3 million people and 500 million files available for copying at any one time on all of the peer-to-peer services worldwide.

The report comes as the recording industry increases its enforcement efforts, including lobbying for federal anti-piracy funding. In addition, the industry has filed lawsuits targeting peer-to-peer file-swapping services including Audiogalaxy and the distributors of Morpheus, Kazaa and Grokster. A suit against Napster was put on hold after the company filed for bankruptcy protection.

The IFPI said that last year it and its affiliated national groups removed from the Internet approximately 1,060 unauthorised peer-to-peer music servers, 28,000 Web and FTP (file transfer protocol) sites offering pirated music, 2.8 million people using unauthorised peer-to-peer services and 700 million unauthorised music files in 51 countries. The group added that the global market for pirated music-including discs and cassettes- totalled 1.9 billion recordings in 2001, compared with 1.8 billion in 2000. The IFPI said this means that almost 40 percent of all CDs and cassettes sold around the globe are pirated copies-the highest proportion ever recorded by the organisation.

"Piracy is sometimes and mistakenly called a 'victimless crime'. It is not," IFPI Chief Executive Jay Berman said in a statement. "The economic losses due to piracy are enormous, and they are felt throughout the music value chain. Piracy also nurtures organised crime across the world, and it stunts investment, growth and jobs."

LOLC and Ishara Traders in MoU deal
LOLC, the pioneering leasing company, tied up with Ishara Traders recently to give their operating lease business a facelift in its operations. According to LOLC, customers could benefit through this strategic tie up as Ishara traders is well equipped with a modern workshop to handle matters concerning the maintenance of vehicles. Picture shows C.P. de Silva, Chairman. LOLC (third from right) and Ishara Nanayakkara, Managing Director of Ishara Traders (second from right) preparing to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Also present at the occasion were LOLC officials - Raaj de Silva, Managing Director, Rienzie Martinesz, Head of Marketing, Rushmi de Silva, Asst. General Manager - Product Development and Company Secretary, Chrishanthi Emmanuel.

Seminar on premises management
The Institute of Human Development and Training (IHDT) has organised a workshop on Professional Certificate in Premises Management on June 26-28 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.

This workshop aims to enhance and develop the multidisciplinary skills required by premises and facilities managers, the IHDT said in a statement.

JKH removed for rating watch list
Ratings of John Keells Holdings Ltd (JKH) have been removed from the rating watch list and SLAAA rating affirmed, a company statement said. The rating action reflects the continuing recovery in the core business segments following the difficult operating environment faced by the company and the expectation of a recovery in group's financial metrics to higher levels in the current financial year. The rating does not take into account possible acquisitions by the group.

Fitch Ratings Lanka (FRL) will evaluate the impact of such events on the group's credit risk profile as and when they occur. A more favourable operating climate and measures initiated by the management would lead to a recovery in earnings in the 4Q FY2001/02 and is expected to continue in the current financial year, the statement added.

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