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EPF,
ETF in merger talks "It gives
a fillip to the investment portfolio available, so those earnings
could treble," he added. "If such an amalgamation takes
place the new fund should be managed by professional and competent
people and be free of political interference, Weerakkody said. "Also,
this should enable the management to recruit exceptional talent,
introduce rapid changes and bring up the levels of service very
quickly to equal or even surpass the private sector provident funds
which currently services some of the working population. This is
a huge opportunity." In the future,
there also may be partnerships with financial institutions and investment
bodies as well as new products such as special loans to members
who need to acquire tertiary educational qualifications such as
a MBA or a CIMA. Weerakkody
said the ETF has been revamped and that the new management had introduced
a more "customer-oriented culture." "Where
a member in the past was seen as a member of the public requiring
a service, now they see him/her as a customer who is the focus of
our service delivery," he said. The fund had
rationalised its operations and created a Customer Service Unit
with hand-picked employees while the Collection Department had been
rea-organised. About 80 percent
of the member contributions come from 25 percent of the employees.
The fund has increased the effectiveness of collections, which now
exceed Rs. 300 million a month compared with Rs. 270 million a month
on average previously. "Our target is Rs. 330 million per month
which we hope to average before the end of the year," Weerakkody
said. "Our performance drivers are to increase contributions
by 22 percent, reduce costs by Rs. 50 million and declare an interest
plus dividend of 12 percent for 2002," he said. The ETF had
declared a dividend of 11 percent last year, an improvement over
2000. The fund had already managed to make some cost reductions
and increased portfolio income by about 19 percent. "We anticipate
a return of 15-20 percent overall on our investments," he said.
The fund hopes to give more benefits and introduce new products
and services, and at the same time, enhance its financial strength,
Weerakkody said. In the past
there had been many problems relating to issuing of Annual Member
Statements (AMS), questions of efficiency relating to maximising
the return on investments in the equity and debt market, and queries
about the transparency of ETF operations. "Most
of these problems and particularly the AMS issues had been linked
to a dysfunctional Member Administration Software System,"
he said. "We have been able to address all these issues. We
recently out-sourced the entire backlogged clearing operations amounting
to 30 million transactions to DMS Software Engineering after competitive
evaluations of quotes of vendors, obtaining the lowest overhead
for this operation." Weerakkody
said the biggest achievement was the introduction of the speedy
claims, processing of normal claims in 21 days and introducing express
claims of payment within two days, at a nominal charge of Rs. 1,000.
"We have not overlooked the member whose income does not enable
him to meet the charge," he added. "In such instances, we have introduced a priority processing operation under which the claimant could have his dues paid within 14 days." Paint
manufacturers' association conducts AGM The decision
to launch this new award scheme - in partnership with an appropriate
regulatory body or agency in the current year - was announced at
the association's second annual general meeting held in Colombo
last week. The association,
which comprises eight of the leading manufacturers of decorative,
industrial and refinish (automotive) paints, completed its second
year of existence under the presidency of Siri Fernando, Managing
Director of Masons Mixtures Ltd. The new president is Ajit de Fonseka
of Paints and General Industries Ltd. The group was primarily set up to ensure that the paint industry was managed responsibly and to serve its members, their customers and the Sri Lankan community at large. "Hence part of the objectives of the association was to ensure that member firms not only competed with each other in a robust manner but that they also did so in an ethical and socially accepted way," an association statement said. New
wash system from Whirlpool In India too,
the brand has shown a rapid growth. It went from no brand awareness
to claim 85% awareness today and a market share of 25%. In less
than three years, the Whirlpool brand has become a household name,
emerging as a leader in the Indian refrigerator market. The brand has
the distinction of being the most preferred brand in the washing
machine category with market leadership in the segment it pioneered
worldwide - the automatic washing machine. "Whirlpool Whitemagic Agisoak" is the first ever-washing machine that comes with a revolutionary RotoBrush. Its specially designed soft and flexible bristles remove tough stains from cuffs and collars without damaging these. The "Agitronic soak" available only in Whitemagic Agisoak immerses your clothes in soapy water for 30 minutes before the main wash cycle. Lexi
looks good, writes good 'Lexi' Pens
(India) Pvt Ltd, is in the business of manufacturing and exporting
writing instruments under the brand of 'LEXI'. All products are
manufactured on sophisticated, state of art, Micro Processor controlled
molding machines from USA, Japan and Austria, which ensures International
quality and consistency. 'Lexi Pens,
including the recently introduced new 'Lexi5' pen are designed with
special 'Insta-flow' technology and have a special Nickel-Silver
Tungsten Carbide ball with high quality water-proof ink that ensures
smooth and smudge-free writing. The 'Lexi 5'
pen has a Grip-friendly design and is available in Blue, Black and
Red colours. The maximum retail price of this pen is Rs. 10/=. The brand 'Lexi'
has been represented in Sri Lanka for over three years and is a
very prominent and respected Brand. 'Lexi' Pens
are currently being also marketed in various countries, especially
in UK, Cyprus, UAE, Chile, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Switzerland,
to a name a few. 'Lexi' pens are marketed in Sri Lanka by the well known J. L. Morison Son & Jones(Ceylon) Limited who have wide distribution network. New
Shop Houses : a unique concept This unique
concept of Shop Houses allows the buyers to operate the respective
business or the practices in the down stairs whilst residing in
the upstairs of the house. Initially when Ceylinco Developers Limited
launched the 21 Shop Houses in the Millennium City it was snapped
up within 2 days resulting all the Shop Houses being sold out even
before a brick was placed on the ground. The all new
Shop Houses that have been released would be built in the most sought
after location of the Millennium City township project. The exact location
would be bordering Kaduwela, Athurugiriya main road right in front
of the Athurugiriya Government Hospital. This allows the operators
of the Shop Houses to access the untapped market of 1700 houses
comprising over 8500 residencies in the Millennium City. The Shop owners
could cater also to the residence of Athurugiriya and suburbs as
well. The new Shop
Houses have been upgraded with more land extents which allow minimum
of 3 parking bases in front of the Shop House belong to the owner
of the Shop House. Also, it is
ideal for a Bank, Grocery, Pharmacy, Beauty Salon, Tyre Shop, Green
Store, Restaurant, Dispensary, Dental Surgeon etc. In order to
ensure the maximum returns to the investors of the Shop Houses,
the type of businesses are limited only to a few. (eg. One Pharmacy,
One Grocery, One Hardware Shop etc.) Special introductory
price per unit is set at Rs. 4,385,000.00 onwards. The finance facilities are on offer for deserving investors. A
new creation Cecile has
always designed her own Jewellery. She has been a tower of strength
in advising the Design & Manufacturing Sections of Blue Diamonds
Jewellery Worldwide and the Gem and Jewellery Divisions of Ceylinco
Diamond Trading and Ceylinco Worldwide Trading in designs and product
development relating to Jewellery. A new creation
which is an absolute work of art is a beautiful ring designed by
Cecile Call Papillon which means butterfly in the French language.
This delightful ring which has the combination of diamonds and a
Ruby is set in white gold using both the traditional setting methods
and the new and innovative setting process developed by Blue Diamonds
Jewellery Worldwide call the 'Floating Diamond' process. The Papillon
ring is set with approximately 235 small (1/2 pointers to 3/4 pointer)
diamonds in the floating diamond setting with a gemstone of the
buyers choice affixed on the top center of the ring . The Papillon was on display at the Facets 2002 Gem and Jewellery Trade Show at the Colombo Hilton and the first order for the Papillon Ring was from Mrs. Edith Wimalaratna, Chairperson of Universal Gems of Sydney, Australia one of the world's most sought after Traders in genuine Pearls, Black Opals and other precious gemstones. SLFFA
grows in stature Helping
Asia to communicate The aggregated
capacity of PanAsia Paper's mills; two in South Korea, one in China
and one in Thailand, amounts to 1,320,000 tones of newsprint and
135,000 tones of other publication paper. PanAsia Paper
is also the sole distributor in the Asia Pacific region for its
equal shareholders, Abitibi Consolidated Inc. of Canada and Norske
Skog Industrier ASA of Norway and its affiliates. PanAsia Paper
markets approximately a half million metric tonnes of newsprint
and groundwood specialties from North America, Europe and Oceania.
PanAsia Paper
employs approximately 2100 people and supplies products to nearly
20 countries. AG International Pte Ltd is the strategic partner for PanAsia, serving the printing, publishing and converting segments in Sri Lanka. AGI has initiated several offshore business promotional activities in emerging markets. |
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