Business
TTEL consolidates sustainability drive with Gold status on UN Climate Neutral Now initiative

Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC (TTEL), a leading member of the Hayleys Plantations Sector, obtained the Gold status for all three steps of Measure, Reduce and Contribute under the Climate Neutral Now (CNN) initiative of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), setting another regional benchmark in the plantations industry.
One of several initiatives launched by the UNFCCC secretariat to increase climate action under the Paris Agreement, the Climate Neutral Now initiative guides, supports, and encourages non-party stakeholders such as organisations and individuals to work towards a Climate Neutral world by 2050.
“Hayleys Plantations has always championed sustainable innovation in Sri Lanka, and the Gold status is a recognition of our commitment to the stringent guidelines issued for the CNN initiative. With this achievement, we have surpassed one of the key milestones in our journey to be NetZero by 2050.
“Our pledge to the CNN initiative in 2019 provided us with the opportunity to leverage on the clear framework, tools, best practices and sector-specific resources devised under this powerful global initiative to reduce our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions significantly. We hope that our achievement today contributes positively to the urgent global mobilisation against climate change,” Hayleys Plantations Managing Director, Dr. Roshan Rajadurai said.
The Gold status is issued to organisations fulfilling three major criteria for “Climate Neutrality”, including the contribution of registered carbon credits under the Verified Carbon Standards (VCS) to offset the current unavoidable emissions. Third-party verification of the comprehensive GHG measured inventory and completing the targets set out for the Science-based Targets initiative to reduce emissions complete the trio.
“To achieve the Gold status for the CNN initiative, a company has to complete all the requirements provided under the three steps: measure, reduce and contribute. Since our pledge to the initiative, we have worked towards achieving the Gold status in these steps individually, setting yet another benchmark in the sector as one of the first companies to be Climate Neutral,” Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC Director/CEO, Senaka Alawattegama said.
Since signing on to the initiative in 2019, TTEL has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions in 2020/21 by 7.3% against the year 2019/20, which in turn was an 8.6% decrease compared to the base year 2018/19.
The initiative with over 400 global participants encourages and supports organisations and other interested stakeholders to take immediate action on climate emergency, as enshrined by the Paris Climate Agreement. Through its sustainability initiatives, TTEL has achieved immense progress under its three main areas of Measure, Reduce and Contribute, in addition to reporting on its actions and achievements annually to achieve the Climate Neutral and Gold status for climate action under its sustainability journey.
Business
‘Seylan Bank celebrates milestone 35 years of outstanding customer service’

Having opened its doors in 1988, Seylan Bank, celebrated a milestone 35 years recently, of proudly serving all stakeholders with an unwavering dedication to excellence, a Seylan Bank press release said.
The release adds: ‘The special occasion was commemorated with a religious ceremony at the Millennium Branch of the bank with the participation of the Board of Directors, corporate management, staff and well-wishers. Dr P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka graced the event and delivered the keynote address. Chairman of Seylan Bank, Ravi Dias and Kapila Ariyaratne, Director/CEO, also addressed the gathering.
‘Since the opening of its first branch, Seylan Bank has expanded into an island wide network of 171 branches, 216 ATMs, 70 cash deposit machines and 96 cheque deposit kiosks as well as many Digital Banking solutions, serving a growing client base of Small and Medium Enterprises, Retail and Corporate Customers.
‘Kapila Ariyaratne, Director/CEO Seylan Bank said, “Today we are proud of our history and excited about the future. Within the past decade Seylan Bank’s total assets, deposits and advances have grown by 300%, while our revenue has grown four times and our profit after tax has doubled. While entering the 35th year, we have recorded the highest bottom line in the history of the Bank for two consecutive years. We have polished the rich culture of innovation and customer service excellence that have been hallmarks of Seylan culture from the beginning, and are more customer focused, compliant and transparent today. Seylan Bank looks to the future with excitement, energy, strength and hope to build on our excellent foundation and achieve the vision of being amongst Sri Lanka’s leading financial service providers, helping all our stakeholders achieve their good aspirations while helping our country and our people to once again achieve economic prosperity in a sustainable manner.”
Business
Price decline seen in all shares across the board; fluctuating trend sets in

By Hiran H. Senewiratne
CSE trading set off on a negative note yesterday but later bounced back slightly. The reason for the fluctuating trend was attributable to stock market brokers reducing their debt component, market analysts said.
Further, shares edged- down in mid- day trade on thin volumes as the market experienced selling pressures and profit- taking, an analyst said. “The market is down as the selling trend continues, as there is a price decline in all shares across the board, combined with the month ending, followed by margin calls, market analysts added.
Amid those developments both indices moved downward. The All- Share Price Index declined by 51 points and S and P SL20 went down by 11.87 points. Turnover stood at Rs 861 million with one crossing. The crossing was reported in NDB, which crossed 470,000 shares to the tune of Rs 20.2 million, its shares traded at Rs 43.
In the retail market some companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Lanka IOC Rs. 103.8 million (640,000 shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 86 million (660,000 shares traded), ACL Cables Rs 83.4 million (one million shares traded), Sampath Bank Rs 76.4 million (1.3 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 38.8 million (6.2 million shares traded) and JKH Rs 32.9 million (235,000 shares traded). During the day 43.98 million share volumes changed hands in 12746 transactions.
It is said that high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in NDB and Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in Sri Lanka Telecom, Lanka IOC and Tokyo Cement Company nonvoting, while retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, LOLC Finance and Renuka Agri Foods.
The Food, Beverage & Tobacco sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Browns Investments), while the sector index lost 0.49 per cent. The share price of Browns Investments recorded a loss of 10 cents, coming down to Rs. 6.40.
The Capital Goods sector was the second highest contributor to market turnover, while the sector index decreased by 1.77 per cent. Sri Lanka Telecom, Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings, NDB and Lanka IOC were also included among the top turnover contributors.
Meanwhile, in the Treasury bond market, yields were up at open on yesterday, dealers said.
A 01.07.2025 bond was quoted at 31.00/30 per cent yesterday, up from 30.75/31.00 per cent on Monday. A 15.09.2027 bond was quoted at 28.25/29.00 per cent, up from 28.10/60 per cent from Monday. The Sri Lanka rupee opened at 322/327 against the US dollar, steady from 322/325 a day earlier, Central Bank sources said.
Business
SLT-MOBITEL shines at Effie Awards 2022

Reiterating its commitment in demonstrating innovative campaigns that have not only set a benchmark in the industry, but also contributed to making a difference for consumers at large, SLT-MOBITEL, the National ICT Solutions Provider was bestowed with two Bronze and a Merit award at the Effie Awards 2022 held recently. SLT-MOBITEL was the sole Telco provider to win awards under the Internet/Telecom category.
Organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), the Effie Awards Sri Lanka edition is part of the world-renowned international awards programme, recognising all forms of effective local marketing communications that contribute to a brand’s success. The coveted event is highly anticipated and celebrated by the marketing fraternity, both locally and globally, as the most distinguished honour in the industry. The Effie Awards Sri Lanka 2022 marked its 13th edition and focused on the creative work and effectiveness of campaigns during turbulent times.
SLT-MOBITEL campaigns that won Bronze awards were the ‘Triple Buddy and ‘Non-Stop Lokka’. For the SLT-MOBITEL Mobile Triple Buddy campaign’ the company introduced a competitively priced bundle for most famous social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and YouTube, thus targeting teens and young adults. Adding to the resounding success of the campaign was the company’s brand ambassador, Falan Andrea. Her immense social media following was utilized to spread the message along with SLT-MOBITEL’s integrated media rollout which targeted every person from across Sri Lanka.
In addition, the Nostop Lokka, campaign for SLT-MOBITEL Mobile addressed competitor pressure on data access and apps. ‘Non-Stop Lokka’, offered nine (09) apps, enabling customers from all categories to connect with the most famous social media applications in a hassle-free manner. The campaign was immensely successful, with outstanding results and continued during the year positioning SLT-MOBITEL as an innovative leader.
SLT-MOBITEL Fixed received the Merit Award for its campaign SLT-MOBITEL Fibre under the theme ‘Revolutionizing the Internet with SLT-MOBITEL Fibre’. SLT-MOBITEL, recently enhanced its Fibre facility, which is Sri Lanka’s first, fastest and widest premium connectivity bandwidth to 200Mbps download speed and 100Mbps upload speed. It made the customer experience uninterrupted, with instant downloading and uploading, even with multiple devices. Also, streaming videos or watch other livestreams in Ultra HD, enjoying lowest latency for gaming and providing crystal clear UHD picture quality for PeoTV were the value additions to SLT-MOBITEL Fibre users.
Conceptualizing and partnering SLT-MOBITEL for the campaigns were Phoenix Ogilvy and Ogilvy Media.
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