Business
Govt to list several state-run hotels on CSE

Stocks of poultry companies increase in price
By Hiran H.Senewiratne
The government would roll out a plan to list several state-run hotels on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) through Selendiva Leisure, a holding company controlled by the government in June this year, Treasury Secretary Sajith Attygalle said yesterday speaking at the opening day of the Invest Sri Lanka Forum held virtually.
“The company will take over underutilized, underperforming, such as prime real estate, restructure them and raise capital,” Attygalle told the investment forum organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, CSE and the Board of Investment.
Sri Lanka created a fully state-run entity called ” Selendiva” to take over various state assets and act as the ‘investment arm’ of the government, he said.
Grand Oriental Hotels is part of the Bank of Ceylon, which was expropriated shortly after independence in an early violation of property rights. Further, private investors are expected to be allowed to buy around 49 percent of Selendiva Leisure.
Amid those developments, trading activity at the CSE was positive and witnessed some buying interest for certain stocks during the day. Both induces moved upwards. All Share Price Index upn by 24.5 points and S and P SL20 up by 6.7 points. Turnover stood at Rs 2.1 billion with a single crossing. The crossing took place in Watawala Plantation, which crossed 500,000 shares to the tune of Rs 27.75 million and its share price traded at Rs 55.50.
In the retail market top five companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were LOLC Rs 189.9 milli0n (496,000 shares traded), Expolanka Rs 170.6 million (3.5 million shares traded), Central Finance Rs 120 million (1.2 million shares traded), Royal Ceramic Rs 96 million (2.5 million shares traded) and Lanka Wall Tiles Rs 82.3 million (1.2 million shares traded. During the day 114.9 million share volumes changed hands in 25136 transactions.
Notably, poultry companies showed significant price appreciation due to an anticipated fish shortage following the sinking or half submerge of X Press Pearl ship in Sri Lanka waters, stock market analysts said.
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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