Financial Times

Sunshine Holdings Limited (SHL), the parent company of Watawala Plantations, last week said Rienzie T. Wijetilleke had been appointed chairman of the company with effect from June 13.

He succeeds G. Sathasivam who will continue to serve on the company's Board of Directors as a senior director.

Wijetilleke is one of the country's foremost business leaders and currently serves on the Boards of several companies.

The current Chairman of Hatton National Bank (HNB) he is also the Chairman of HNB Assurance Limited, HNB Securities Limited, HNB Stockbrokers (Pvt) Limited and Sithma. Development (Pvt) Limited. He is also a director of Nawaloka Hospitals Limited, DFCC Bank, Ceylon Biscuits Limited and the Colombo Stock Exchange. In its results issued recently, Sunshine Holdings Limited and its subsidiary companies Swiss Biogenics Limited, Watawala Plantations Limited, Sunshine Travel and Tours Limited and Sunshine Packaging Limited reported a turnover of Rs 5.1 billion for 2005-06, up Rs 388 million over the previous year.
Group profit after tax was Rs 302 million, an increase of Rs 37 million or 14 per cent over Rs 265 million reported last year. Profit attributable to shareholders was Rs 143 million for the year under review, an increase of 12.9 per cent.

The total assets of the group rose to Rs 4.1 billion as against Rs 3.2 billion reported last year, a healthy increase of 28 per cent. Net assets per share rose to Rs 54.94 as at March 31, 2006 from Rs 30.75 at the end of the previous year, and represented a noteworthy growth of 79 per cent.

In his review of these results, new chairman Rienzie T. Wijetilleke said: "Each of our business units made strong progress, and finished the period well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities for stable growth in the year 2006-07. During the last year SHL once again demonstrated its ability to provide shareholders with sound returns and achieved the Group's financial and operating targets."

"Across the Group we continue to share knowledge and skills, and are increasingly focusing on resources such as IT and human resources across all companies," he said.

Watawala Plantations Limited recorded a significant increase in revenue to Rs 2.8 billion.

The net profit of the company rose to Rs 204 million from Rs 161 million reported last year. This was an increase of 26 per cent. The export revenue of Watawala Plantations of Rs 746 million constituted 26 per cent of its total revenue. Managing Director of the Group, Vish Govindasamy said: "With the government's proactive approach in the agricultural and fishing sector, we see immense potential in this business. We have made significant upgrades to the existing machinery and are currently training our staff on the new technology available."

In the forthcoming year the Group will seek to diversify its investment portfolio in a prudently aggressive approach, he said. The company also hopes to maximize the scope and effectiveness of its original strategies and balance the factor of sound returns with a growth-based portfolio of investment.

The Board of Directors of Sunshine Holdings Limited comprises Messrs R. T. Wijetilleke (Chairman), Vish Govindasamy (Managing Director) G. Sathasivam, Shyam Sathasivam and Bhandula Hulangamuwa.