Panora Corporation on CSE

He noted that there was lot of interest from the Middle East and other South Asian countries for the Panora brand. “Our goal next year is to be regionally accessible as a brand,” he said.

Panora Corporation, a subsidiary of PC House which launched the first ever Sri Lankan computer, is looking at a public listing by next year while planning to strengthen its international presence in the region and the Middle East.

“We are looking at a public listing by next year and later on will explore more possibilities in terms of raising equity,” Saliya Wimalaratna, General manager, Panora Corporation told The Sunday Times FT.

The company wants to penetrate the SAARC region next year. “We have appointed an agent in the Maldives and started global distribution in Pakistan and Bangladesh,” he said, explaining that the company is in talks with several vendors in both countries. “We will establish agent relationships by the 1st quarter 2007,” he added.

He noted that there was lot of interest from the Middle East and other South Asian countries for the Panora brand. “Our goal next year is to be regionally accessible as a brand,” he said.

The company said it is the only firm to receive the energy star certification, based on the extent of power efficiency. “We want to see an improvement in our manufacturing process and we’ve spent Rs. 5 billion this year to upgrade it,” Wimalaratna said.

The company, which sells about 3000 personal computers (PCs) a month has seen a 300 percent increase in sales this year from 2005. “In 2005, we sold around 18,000 PCs,” Wimalaratna said, adding that Panora is not limited to a certain segment of the market. He said sales in Sri Lanka for PCs totals about 160,000 PCs a year and 2006 has seen a 23 percent jump in sales. “However, only three percent of the population own PCs and less than 10 percent know how to operate a computer,” he said.