Financial Times

The Mack and Company drama
As an investor in public quoted companies I am very concerned that the relevant authorities have not responded adequately to the above issue to make it clear to the public as to what is going on.

Questions that should be asked and haven't been answered so far are:

a) What exactly have the persons (involved) done?

b) What section of the law have they broken? Words like " price sensitive information" have been freely used and some say others bearing a relation to "confidential" matters.

c) Was there - according to some reports - a loss of over Rs. 100 million at a subsidiary or an accumulated loss over some years which obviously would have been reported?
d) Was this loss reflect

ed properly in the relevant balance sheet of the company?

e) Shouldn't Aitken Spence and company make a full disclosure instead of a terse statement? Can the authorities compel the company to do so?

f) Why should anybody committing offences heavily punishable with imprisonment and time not have been questioned in detail?

g) Views have been expressed that the SEC does not question persons suspected of serious infringement of this nature. Is this legally possible?

h) The Attorney General has been silent as to how he got involved. Was it just an opinion that was obtained from the AG? If the Attorney General was referred to in some basis other than a complaint was it only an opinion?

k) Shouldn't the SEC say why a second opinion became necessary?

L) Is there some doubt that the AG was not properly briefed by whomever requested an opinion?

A very concerned investor

Seminar on mediation in the workplace

A free seminar on "Adoption of the Mediation Process in our Workplaces" organised by The National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka will be held on January 7 at the chamber auditorium in Colombo.

A chamber statement said the settlement of commercial disputes in courts of law or through arbitration takes considerable time and are extremely expensive. Commercial Mediation is an alternative approach to settlement of commercial disputes which provides faster settlement at much less cost than the courts of law.

"Many affected parties write off the losses and do not get involved in litigation.

Therefore many local and foreign investors are reluctant to start or expand business ventures in the country which has an adverse impact on economic growth," it said.

This week's seminar is organised by the chamber in association with the Commercial Mediation Centre of Sri Lanka and the Legal and Judicial Reforms

Project of the Ministry of Justice, Law Reform and National Integration.

Speakers include Justice P. Ramanathan, Dhara Wijeyatilleke Secretary, Ministry of Justice and senior officials from the Employers' Federation who will enlighten participants on introduction to commercial mediation, advantages of the mediation process and employment mediation services.

MBSL Midcap index revised
Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka Ltd. has revised the MBSL Midcap Index with effect from January 2, the bank said. The index, launched in 1999, is revised every year. The criteria for selecting the 25 stocks for the index remain unchanged and are:

a) Middle range market capitalisation.

b) Liquidity

c) Profitability

MBSL Midcap index, computed by Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka Limited (MBSL), is aimed at the proper measurement of price movement of medium size companies, as the All Share Index (ASI) and Milanka Price Index (MPI) are highly sensitive to price movements of a few large companies.

The range for market capitalization for 2003 was revised to Rs 2 billion in 2002 following a more active stock market last year.

This revision has resulted in the replacement of seven stocks by new ones. The additions to the Index are Richard Pieris Company Limited, Maskeliya Plantations Limited, Colombo Land & Development Company Limited, Haycarb Limited, Nestle Lanka Limited, Chemical Industries (Colombo) Limited and Talawakelle Plantations Limited. The outgoing stocks are Asian Hotels Corporation Limited, Bogawantalawa Plantations Limited, Ceylinco Seylan Developments Limited, Ceylon Grain Elevators Limited, Kelani Valley Plantations, Royal Ceramics Lanka Limited, and Watawala Plantations Limited.

MBSL Midcap Index has the base as 1000 as at 31 December 1998 (which is the same as the Milanka Index). The index recorded a new all time high of 1852 on 25 September 2002.

Qatar Airways chief to visit Colombo

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker will be visiting Colombo on January 13 to announce the introduction of daily flights between Doha and Colombo.
While in Sri Lanka, Al Baker will have talks with local aviation authorities and other top government officials to discuss future co-operation between Qatar Airways and the Sri Lankan Government. Accompanying him is Qatar Airway's General Manager Commercial, Mohamed Fakhri.

Al Baker will announce additional flights between Qatar and Sri Lanka for Tuesdays and Saturdays, a company statement said.

Inflation eases to 9.6pct in 2002

Sri Lanka's annual (Jan-Dec) inflation last year, according to the official Colombo Consumers' Price Index (CCPI), fell to 9.6 percent from 14.2 percent in 2001.

The Central Bank in a statement attributed lower inflation as at end December to continuing declining trends in the inflation rate observed since January 2002. "The recovery in agricultural production, introduction of a rational pricing formula for key items such as petroleum and wheat flour and improvements in the distribution of consumer commodities following the ceasefire were the main contributory factors to this salutary development. The consistent monetary management throughout the year helped to contain the inflationary trend during 2002," it said.

The Colombo Consumers' Price Index (CCPI), which measures price changes within the Colombo Municipality for lower income groups published by the Department of Census and Statistics, registered 3321.2 in December, indicting an increase of 2.5 per cent over the previous month. The index in December 2002 when compared with December 2001 (the point to point change) rose by 11.3 per cent, which was higher than the 9.1 per cent seen in November. The annual average increase of the index reached 9.6 per cent from 9.5 per cent in November.

The Colombo District Consumer Price Index (CDCPI), computed by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, of the lowest 40 percent of income earning households, covering a wider geographical area, i.e., Colombo District, increased by 1.1 percent in December. On a point to point basis, however, the index decreased to 4.5 percent from 5.2 percent in November.

The annual average change of the index also dropped from 7.3 percent to 6.8 percent, indicating an overall moderation of inflation.

The food category was the main contributory factor for the increase in CDCPI in December. In the Food category, prices of most varieties of vegetables, leafy vegetables and fish, some varieties of rice, coconut and eggs increased during the month. Prices of most varieties of fruits, lime, betel and arecanuts registered price decreases.

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