A Red Carpet Affair

A tribute to Sri Lanka’s most awarded business houses

Fact: the unprecedented economic crisis – with sky high inflation and interest rates, shortages of essential items, a newly effective tax regime that is squeezing the life out of disposable incomes and corporate bottom lines, and even a forex crunch that has seen the Sri Lankan Rupee shed close to half its past value – follows hot on the heels of three years of multiple challenges for business and the citizenry alike.

Late in 2018, Sri Lanka Inc. suffered its first setback in the aftermath of the mind-boggling constitutional crisis, which was followed by the devastating Easter Sunday terror attacks of April 2019 and then the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and last but not least, the then Sri Lankan government’s decision to default on its sovereign debt for the first time.

These events rolled over to the people’s struggle (a.k.a. the aragalaya), which was stopped in its heady tracks by violence prone and politically motivated infiltrators.

The highly desirable ‘system change’ therefore, has once again been relegated to a non-event, which in turn has opened the floodgates for a brain drain not seen in this country for generations.

It wouldn’t take too much deliberation to surmise that the nation’s survival now depends on a return to some sort of normalcy so that Sri Lanka Inc. and its engine of growth can motor on. For the time being at least, the nation and its people continue to make do… in survival mode.

But in the midst of the debris, and the doom and gloom, Sri Lanka’s business houses have continued to shine in many spheres – for example, the recently released 2021/22 LMD 100 rankings of listed companies paints a bright picture not only of the recent past but also the horizon in the distance.

The dichotomy however, is that while the nation’s corporate powerhouses continue to showcase their resilience, as they have done over the decades, smaller businesses are fighting to stay afloat.

As in previous years, there’s no dearth of awards and accolades for Sri Lanka’s most successful corporates – in fact, we are witnessing an increase in both awardees and awards!

National Development Bank (NDB) occupies the centre of the podium for the second consecutive year in the third annual edition of the Most Awarded rankings for 2002 with a more than 50 percent increase in awards won (i.e. from 60 in the previous year to 92 in 2022).

In second place sits the highest placed entity in the inaugural Most Awarded rankings (i.e. 2020) – Commercial Bank of Ceylon (ComBank), which is followed by Softlogic Life Insurance in third spot. ComBank’s tally of 78 awards reflects an increase of 25 from the preceding year while Softlogic Life Insurance bagged 53 (that’s 17 higher than in 2021).

The top three contestants are followed by last year’s joint runner-up Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings (41 awards in calendar year 2022, compared to 53 in the previous year), and one of the top 50 movers and shakers in the form of Amana Takaful – its count shot up from 11 awards in 2021 to 31 a year later.

As for the race to finish line, the previous year was close with only seven scalps separating the top three whereas in 2022, the gap between numbers one and two is twice as high (14).

And as far as the top five most awarded entities go, the banking and insurance sectors take the honours in the 2022 rankings.

There are movers and shakers galore in this edition of the Most Awarded rankings!

Leading the pack is Unidil Group, which has gained a whopping 127 places to make the top 50 Hall of Fame at No. 46 in 2022. It is followed by JAT Group (51 places up the ladder to No. 21) and Hayleys Fabric, which climbed 44 steps up the ladder (to be placed joint 38th)

And there are two new entrants in the top 50 (versus five in 2021) – viz. Advantis 3PL Plus (Logiwiz) at No. 34 and Alumex in 38th place (along with three others) with 12 and 11 awards respectively.

Banking and insurance dominate the sector rankings; their collective tallies of 408 and 187 awards respectively are ahead of two others that have cumulative counts in excess of 100 – viz. manufacturing (130) and diversified (114).

Also making their mark in the 2022 rankings are the nation’s listed companies (led by NDB) – they account for around two-thirds of the 1,580 awards listed (i.e. 1,052), whereas private entities have won 343 (Ceylon Biscuits leads the way), the state sector 97 (with People’s Bank at the top) and multinationals 88 (led by Unilever).

– LMD

“In the midst of the debris, and the doom and gloom, Sri Lanka’s business houses have continued to shine in many spheres – for example, the recently released 2021/22 LMD 100 rankings of listed companies paints a bright picture not only of the recent past but also the horizon in the distance