Business
Aitken Spence, most awarded company at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2020

Aitken Spence PLC walked away with 12 awards and the highest number of awards received by a single company at the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability (BCCS) Award 2020. Aitken Spence emerged ‘1st Runner-Up’ and was unmatched as the only company to have been ranked among the Top Ten Best Corporate Citizens of Sri Lanka for 15 consecutive years and placed in the Top 3 for eight consecutive years. The company was also the recipient of the highest number of certificate awards for ‘Consistent Commitment and Continuous Improvement’ which goes to show the robust sustainability strategy and unparalleled commitment to sustainability from its teams across the diversified Group even during extremely challenging times.
The company was also awarded the top 10 best corporate citizens, triple bottom line awards for plant and people, category awards for environmental integration and environmental commitment, sector award in the diversified holdings and consistent commitment and continuous improvements certificate awards for environmental commitment, environmental integration and environment beyond the business, employee relations and customer relations.
Organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, this annual event recognises best practices of organisations that have successfully achieved a sustainable balance between social, environmental and economic performance.
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce hosts this award with an esteemed panel of experienced evaluators and judges comprising of industry leaders, and experts on sustainable development. Recognition at this platform is aimed to encourage businesses, a major contributor in the country’s economy and development, to adopt sustainable practices. The diverse categories within this programme evaluate processes and systems ensuring integration of environmental and social sustainability within the business, measures to strengthen employee relations and customer satisfaction, systemic efforts for community development and economic contribution, governance structures, consistent commitment as well as sustainable projects carried out by corporates.
Commenting on this achievement, Dr. Parakrama Dissanayake – Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of Aitken Spence PLC said, “My gratitude goes out to our Spensonians for their unwavering commitment especially during these challenging times. These many awards won by a single company validates the approach we have adopted across the leadership of Aitken Spence and is a reflection on our sustainability ethos.”
“Aitken Spence is one of the very few organisations in Sri Lanka that are truly international and diversified and because of this, developing a strategy that encompasses the priorities of all our operations is all the more complex. I wholeheartedly thank the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and all our stakeholders that have been on this long journey with us. We will use the constructive feedback from the esteemed panel of judges to improve and I am confident that Aitken Spence will continue to raise the benchmark for sustainability in the corporate sector,” he further added.
With an indisputable repute as one of Sri Lanka’s pioneering corporates, Aitken Spence is a blue-chip conglomerate anchored to a heritage of excellence spanning over 150 years. Listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1983, Aitken Spence is a responsible enterprise driven by over 13,000 employees across 16 industries in 9 countries in hotels, travels, maritime, freight and logistics solutions, plantations, power generation, insurance, printing, apparel, and other services.
Business
Share investors worried over Wealth and Heritage tax

By Hiran H Senewiratne
CSE trading kicked off on a positive note yesterday but the momentum could not be sustained for long owing to investor worries that the government is planning domestic debt restructuring involving the imposition of a wealth and heritage tax on citizens, market sources said.
Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All -Share Price Index went down by 131 points and S and P SL-20 declined by 46.8 points. Turnover stood at Rs 3.4 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in Agalawattte Plantations, which crossed 45.3 million shares to the tune of Rs 1.5 billion, its shares traded at Rs 35, CTC 420,000 shares crossed for Rs 269 million and its shares traded at Rs 640, Cargills 100,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 24.5 million; its shares traded at Rs 245 and Hayleys 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 24 million; its shares traded at Rs 80.
In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, SLT Rs 234 million (two million shares traded), Hayleys RS 121 million (1.5 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 106 million (115,000 shares traded), Softlogic Capital Rs 69 million (5.6 million shares traded), CTC Rs 65.3 million (101,000 shares traded), Sampath Bank RS 54.7 million (one million shares traded) and Commercial Bank RS 52.5 million (801,000 shares traded).During the day 164 million share volumes changed hands in 20000 transactions.
Business
Brandix ‘RightToRead’ initiative gains momentum enriching Sri Lanka students and transforming learning

Inspired by the challenge to provide Sri Lankan children with better access to learning materials and the transformative power to read and comprehend English, Brandix launched the ‘RightToRead’ project in 2018 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education.
Accordingly, Brandix introduced the ‘ReadToMe’ English learning tool, created by English Helper – India, to improve reading and comprehension skills of Sri Lankan students. Last Monday, Julie Chung, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, visited Susamayawardhana Vidyalaya in Borella, to observe progress of the project and experience how children and educators in Sri Lanka engage with educational technology.
Brandix Lanka Limited, Director, Ajit Johnpillai, said: “Education is the most powerful tool to enrich communities and futures, and Brandix is committed to build a strong foundation for transformational learning for students across Sri Lanka. The progress we have made with RiteToRead over the past two years is promising, and the potential for change in the education sector harnessing such digital technologies is immeasurable. Brandix will continue its commitment to deliver Inspired Solutions for the people of Sri Lanka.”
Business
Dialog TV Boosts Resilience and Capacity with Norsat Satellite Earth Station

Hytera, a leading global provider of professional communications technologies and solutions, is proud to announce the successful deployment of a new backup satellite station for Dialog TV, Sri Lanka’s No.1 satellite Pay TV service provider. The project was fulfilled in 2022 by Hytera and its subsidiary specialized in Satellite Communications (SatCom), Norsat International Inc. The new station enhances the resilience and capacity of Dialog TV’s existing system and ensures continuity of service in the event of damage due to natural disasters.
Dialog TV provides coverage over the entirety of Sri Lanka through the Intelsat 38 Ku-band satellite. As the business expanded, it opted for a backup solution to support its existing satellite station and to strengthen the network’s disaster tolerance.
Hytera and Norsat provided an end-to-end satellite earth station solution that includes the installation, integration, and setup of satellite antennas, a transmission and receiving system, a new network management system (NMS), and a carrier monitoring system (CMS). The NMS makes routine work easier and simpler for on-duty staff, as equipment status, parameter monitoring and configuration, and remote control of the devices can be viewed and accomplished via a single interface. The CMS monitors the carrier spectrum status of satellite signals in real-time and ensures stable signal transmission and receiving.
“We are excited to have been able to work with Dialog TV on this important project,” said Kevin Sun, Sales Director for Hytera South Asia, “Our ability to seamlessly integrate our new equipment and software with Dialog TV’s existing systems has helped to ensure a stable and reliable service for their millions of customers across Sri Lanka.”
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