First LLC to Cross US$ 1 Billion Mark

Hayleys enjoys a record 2017/18 financial year

There are many ways for a Sri Lankan business house to make its mark and demonstrate that it is a cut above the rest. For example, it could be named as the ‘Best Corporate Citizen’ by an apex business body such as the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

Or else, it could be ranked among the top three most admired business entities in the country by LMD – and this while topping the list for ‘nation-mindedness’ in the publisher’s Most Respected rankings.

Then again, it could be esteemed as the ‘No. 1 company’ in LMD’s cascade of ‘Top 100 companies in Sri Lanka’ – and for the fifth consecutive time to boot.

All of these redound to an outstanding entity on Sri Lanka’s corporate horizon. And that organisation, in its distinctive avatars for the three instances of recognition cited above, is the Hayleys Group in the first two citations and Hayleys in the third case.

Not that these are the be all and end all of that reputable conglomerate’s feathers in its cap.

For Hayleys also brought fame to and recognition for the country by winning a European Foundation for Management Development Award for the INSEAD produced case study featuring the company, as well as garnering a USAID Global Development Alliance Award for Sri Lanka – for fostering commercial agriculture in the country’s Eastern Province.

But there is arguably one benchmark to stamp for the first time, which – when it eventuated for Hayleys – set the corporate entity ahead of its pack… And that was when the Hayleys Group became the first listed company in Sri Lanka to cross the US$ 1 billion turnover mark.

By building on the momentum it had gained in the last quarter of the financial year 2017/18, Hayleys announced a record-breaking top-line as its revenue expanded by 47 percent year on year to reach Rs. 163 billion for the 12 months ended 31 March 2018.

Indeed, it was a great financial year fit for the record books.

Hayleys announced a record-breaking top-line as its revenue expanded by 47 percent year on year to reach Rs. 163 billion for the 12 months ended 31 March 2018