Dinesh tipped to be appointed Chairman; Dheerasinghe as Deputy; business leader Preethi new face on the Board Commercial Bank is slated to have a special Board meeting today, the second in three days, to elect a new Chairman. The move follows the resignation of longstanding Chairman and Board member Mahendra Amarasuriya, as exclusively reported by ...

Unhappy after questionable downgrade Hayleys fires letter; legal action next?   Rating agency Fitch is under fire for some  of its judgments and the latest to join the chorus is Hayleys Plc. Seemingly disturbed by the downgrade from AA- to A+ with a negative outlook by Fitch, Hayleys has fired a letter expressing its reservations, ...

the Daily FT yesterday that guests in member hotels were continuing to enjoy their holiday ...

The Pathfinder Foundation issued the following response to the IFC opinion piece on its Economic Alert No. 20 titled ‘Improving Sri Lanka’s Business Climate,’ published in the Daily FT: The Pathfinder Foun-dation (PF) is grateful to the International Finance Corporation (IFC

Special communiqué listing actions taken issued to travel and hotel trade as a confidence building measure Working closely with the defence authorities to ensure greater protection for tourists in possible vulnerable areas Both tourism and law enforcement authorities have thus far successfully handled the unfortunate gruesome attack on a tourist couple in Tangalle over the ...

Senior business leader Harry Jayawardena-controlled Distilleries Company (DCSL) has triggered the Takeovers and Mergers Code on Aitken Spence Plc, the Daily FT learns. The triggering had taken place late last week when Melstacorp, a subsidiary of DCSL, had bought 62,100 Spence shares at Rs. 110

A shocked leisure industry yesterday decried the deadly attack on tourists in Tangalle over the weekend as the biggest setback for the sector which was rebounding following the end of the war. They urged the Government and law enforcement authorities to ensure harshest punishment against those responsible whilst calling for adequate measures to ensure safety ...

By Cheranka Mendis The tea industry anticipates mixed signals as the year closes on a high amidst Middle Eastern turmoil which spells evil in the coming year. The industry which is likely to close the year with export revenue exceeding the previous year’s number and breaking the record production volume of 2010, is expected to ...

to the article above in yesterday’s Daily FT by the Pathfinder Foundation – in which there a...

Most recent Deputy Governor of the Central Bank K.G.D.D. Dheerasinghe has been appointed to the Board of Commercial Bank Plc as a Non Executive Director. The appointment with effect from 20 December was announced by the Commercial Bank yesterday whilst the Daily FT first broke the impending move

Yet again proving its resilience amidst global shocks and the recession in the West, the country’s economy in the third quarter has grown by 8.4%, a rate viewed by analysts as faster than expected. The high 8.4% growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was above the 8% achieved in the corresponding period of last year. ...

Broker and investor anxiety to persist in festive season as regulator puts off decision on price band, credit rule relaxation Brokers and investors are likely to miss festive cheer as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday felt it wiser to require more time to agree on the lifting of the price band and relaxing ...

Top professional Janaki Kuruppu has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tea Board, replacing business leader Susantha Ratnayake. Sources said that Ratnayake, who is also Chairman of premier blue chip John Keells Holdings and main  private sector lobby the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, had voluntarily stepped down after serving Tea Board ...

By Cheranka Mendis Dismissing claims that the merger of Dialog and Suntel has created the second largest fixed line provider, the rightful owner of the title Lanka Bell is now on the go to rectify the wrongful claims. Lanka Bell Managing Director Prasad Samarasinghe told the Daily FT yesterday

All credit to Daily FT on your headline news item in of 15 Dec ‘Extra life for old directors in banks’. Your analysis was spot on and the action obviously moved to ensure continuity of Commercial Bank Chairman Amarasuriya even though many other retiring directors would now try to stay

New CEO Kapila Chandrasena upbeat on prospects for national carrier and Sri Lanka as a tourist destination post-warWhen the news of the impending change at the top in the national carrier broke, the Daily FT headlined the lead story on 6 May 2011 as ‘Turb-UL-ence,’ with a pun

By Chamitha Kuruppu Sri Lanka’s largest and one of the oldest political parties, the UNP for the first time in its history will hold an election today to elect its leadership. The decision to fix the dates for the much hyped election was taken by the working committee on Sunday. The working committee had decided ...

Plastic crates: Universally used in agri markets In 2002, the writer had a chance of visiting a few farms in Czech Republic, some 200 kilometres away from its capital, Prague. They were all medium sized farms owned by private individuals producing such products as vegetables, fruits and honey. At the time of the writer’s visit, ...

The right to privacy is our right to keep a domain around us, which includes all those things that are part of us, such as our body, home, thoughts, feelings, secrets and identity. The right to privacy gives us the ability to choose which parts in this domain can be accessed by others, and to ...

Hutch Lanka is investing US$ 65 million to upgrade and expand its services in the coming year says a top official, with plans to become the latest entrant into the 3G sphere. Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka better known as Hutch launched in 2004 and to date has maintained a consistent but largely unaggressive presence in the ...

By Dinali Goonewardene The private sector yesterday welcomed the relaxation of rules for foreign investment in debentures and overseas borrowings by Sri Lankan firms. The Central Bank yesterday announced it was relaxing regulations for foreign investment in corporate debentures of Sri Lankan firms and foreign borrowings by local firms. In the case of corporate debentures ...

Daily FT Editor Nisthar Cassim was among 40 top individuals apart from 60 institutions from private and public sectors picked last night for Global Commerce Excellence by the Shippers Academy Colombo, with support from the Central Bank, Export Development Board, Sri Lanka Ports Authority

The Sri Lanka Army has developed a citizen information collection scheme known as the ‘Geo-Citizen Information System Project’ at a cost of Rs. 2.5 million. The project that is under the purview of the Defence Ministry and created by the Centre for Research and Development and Sri Lanka Army is the first such project to be introduced in South East Asia. The project is aimed at ...

Former MP and businessmen Dr. Tilak Karunarathne assumed duties as the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday. He had meetings with the senior management and staff of the SEC to apprise himself of what each division does. Karunaratne is a former Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), United National Party (UNP) and Sihala ...

Prof. Yunus of Grameen Bank fame in Sri Lanka to promote social business By Uditha Jayasinghe In order to promote inclusive and sustainable development, the flaws of capitalism must be fixed, said Nobel Laureate Prof. M. Yunus, who landed in Sri Lanka last afternoon ahead of a corporate seminar today. Creating and implementing the idea ...

Pan Asia Banking Corporation (PABC Bank) is to raise Rs. 1 billion from Japanese investors via a five-year debenture issue, its Deputy Chairman Nimal Perera told the Daily FT on the sidelines of the Sri Lanka Investment Forum in Tokyo on Thursday.        

By Cheranka Mendis reporting from Kuala Lumpur The Sri Lanka Army, in a first for South East Asia, has developed a citizen information collection scheme known as the ‘Geo-Citizen Information System Project’ at a cost of Rs. 2.5 million. Run under the authority of the Defence Ministry and created by the Centre for Research and ...

 Local healthcare specialist floats 50:50 JV with Japanese firm To carry out clinical trials, new drug developments and manufacture niche products for local and mega South Asian markets On the sidelines of New World Securities Investment Forum, first-of-its-kind announcement made in Tokyo Stock Exchange by a Sri Lankan corporate Nisthar Cassim reporting from Tokyo December ...

By Dinali Goonewardene Lighthouse Hotels is to construct 15 to 20 new rooms, a new restaurant, bar and an extension to the spa, officials said yesterday.   Architects are drawing up plans for the extension, which will be carried out in the off-peak season, and the plans will be ready in two to three weeks, ...

By Cheranka Mendis in Malaysia Sri Lankan non-profit technology company Infoshare yesterday launched ‘Kavakatu,’ a brand new web application to monitor and evaluate projects at the Microsoft’s ‘Accelerating Asia Pacific 2011’ summit in Kuala Lumpur. Exclusively concentrating on non-profit organisations and their activities, ‘Kavakatu’ will help the bodies ...