SUPPORT SERVICES | 2022/23
AUDITORS LEAGUE
ERNST & YOUNG EXTENDS LEAD TO SIXTH YEAR
For the sixth consecutive year, Ernst & Young (EY) continues to dominate the LMD 100 auditors league with 46 sign offs to its credit, marking an increase of two from its tally in the previous edition.
The firm was entrusted with auditing the financial statements of six of the LMD 100’s top 10 entities in financial year 2022/23 – viz. Expolanka Holdings, Hayleys, LOLC Holdings, Commercial Bank of Ceylon (ComBank), John Keells Holdings (JKH) and Sampath Bank.
KPMG maintained second place with 39 sign offs – albeit that it has one client less than in 2021/22. The firm secured the statutory audits of three entities within the LMD 100’s top 10 – Carson Cumberbatch, Bukit Darah and Hatton National Bank (HNB).
Together, EY and KPMG approved the statutory audits of 85 LMD 100 corporates in financial year 2022/23 – that’s an increase of one from the prior year. Meanwhile, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) held on to third position from the preceding year, conducting the audits of nine LMD 100 organisations. Among them in the top 10 entities was Lanka IOC, which takes sixth spot on the LMD 100 Leaderboard.
Once again, three of the ‘Big Four’ global audit firms served over 90 percent of Sri Lanka’s 100 leading listed companies in the 2022/23 financial year.
The Auditor General’s Department endorsed two LMD 100 audit reports while BDO Partners, Baker Tilly Edirisinghe and Kreston MNS accounted for the remaining four in the LMD 100.
Kreston MNS makes a noteworthy entrance, having not featured in the last edition of the LMD 100.
LAWYERS LEAGUE
JULIUS & CREASY AND NITHYA PARTNERS ARE EQUALS
Julius & Creasy and Nithya Partners share the top spot in the LMD 100’s lawyers league in financial year 2022/23 by serving 11 corporates apiece.
Both leading legal eagles however, served one less LMD 100 client compared to the previous year.
In second place is F. J. & G. De Saram, which offered legal services to eight organisations in this year’s LMD 100 like it did in the prior financial year.
Heritage Partners provided legal counsel to four clients listed in the LMD 100, doubling its count from the preceding year, while D. L. & F. De Saram rendered services to two clients – that’s one less than in financial year 2021/22.
Meanwhile, Neelakandan & Neelakandan, Nithi Murugesu & Associates and Paul Ratnayeke Associates each contributed legal expertise to one LMD 100 client.
Only 34 of the companies in the LMD 100 disclosed their lawyers or legal consultants in the corporate information sections of their 2022/23 annual reports. This count in 2021/22 stood at 35.
For the record, eight LMD 100 entities – viz. LOLC Holdings, CIC Holdings, Sunshine Holdings, Softlogic Life Insurance, Richard Pieris, Renuka Foods, Sampath Bank and Printcare – appointed joint lawyers for 2022/23.
DESIGNERS LEAGUE
EMAGEWISE SUSTAINS ITS DOMINANCE IN DESIGN
Emagewise maintains its stronghold as the premier creative agency for designing annual reports among the LMD 100 corporations – leading the designers league for the 15th consecutive year.
In the 2022/23 review period, it served as design partner for 47 of Sri Lanka’s leading listed companies in the LMD 100 – this represents a slight dip from its portfolio in the previous financial year when Emagewise collaborated with 49 LMD 100 entities in presenting their annual reports.
Securing second place in the creative landscape for annual reports of leading listed companies is Smart Media. It designed 10 annual reports in financial year 2022/23, from seven in the previous year.
Optima Designs follows with six while RedWorks and Copyline designed five and three annual reports respectively from among the LMD 100 entities.
And Mediawize designed annual reports for two LMD 100 corporates – from four in the preceding year.
Collectively, these six design firms account for nearly 75 percent (73 annual reports, to be precise) of corporates featured in the latest edition of the LMD 100, which is widely recognised as Sri Lanka’s version of global benchmark – the Fortune 500.
Notably, only 74 of the LMD 100 companies disclosed the designers of their annual reports, mirroring the trend observed in the preceding period of review when 88 did so.
PRINTERS LEAGUE
SOFTWAVE RETAINS TOP SPOT FOR NINTH YEAR
For the ninth consecutive year, LMD’s longstanding print partner Softwave Printing & Packaging, maintains pole position by printing as many as 11 of the country’s leading quoted companies in the period under review.
Having said that, it has four corporate clients less from the 15 LMD 100 companies it serviced in financial year 2021/22.
Aitken Spence Printing & Packaging also retains second spot for being the preferred printer for the annual reports of nine corporate clients listed in the latest edition of the LMD 100. Notably, in financial year 2021/22, only three leading listed companies commissioned Aitken Spence to print their annual reports.
Printage also holds on to third place with four LMD 100 annual reports – an increase of one from the 2021/22 financial year. And Printel and Nethu Print Solutions each produced three annual reports.
Meanwhile, Gunaratne Offset – which printed as many as 13 annual reports in 2021/22 – doesn’t feature in the printers league this year. Alongside Gunaratne, Optima Designs and Emagewise are also missing from the LMD 100’s printers league – from four and two annual reports in the previous year respectively.
Notably, only 30 of the LMD 100 entities (down from 45 in the preceding year) chose to disclose their printing partners in the financial year under review – which means that 70 organisations chose not to disclose their printers in the 2022/23 financial year.
BANKERS LEAGUE
HNB STRENGTHENS ITS HOLD AS TOP BANKING PARTNER
Hatton National Bank (HNB) continues to be the preferred banking partner to Sri Lanka’s premier listed companies, serving 79 of the leading lights in financial year 2022/23 – an increase of one corporate client compared to the previous year’s LMD 100.
Commercial Bank of Ceylon (ComBank), formerly joint leader alongside HNB, serviced 76 clients in this edition of the LMD 100 compared with 78 in 2021/22.
National Development Bank (NDB) secures third place, having served 67 corporates (up from 62 in the previous year) while Sampath Bank (which held the third position last year) moves to No. 4 in the bankers league.
State owned Bank of Ceylon (BOC) takes the fifth spot with 63 LMD 100 clients, down from 65 corporate accounts last year. And Nations Trust Bank (NTB) is sixth with 58 corporates from the list – it has one client more than it did in 2021/22.
During this period, DFCC Bank, People’s Bank, Seylan Bank and Standard Chartered Sri Lanka each served over half of the LMD 100 entities with 50 or more corporates in their portfolios.
Corporate client lists also reached double digits for other banks in the league: HSBC (32), Pan Asia Banking Corporation (31), Deutsche Bank (26), Union Bank of Colombo (26), Citibank (21), Cargills Bank (20), Muslim Commercial Bank (10) and Bank of China (10).
The three largest state banks – BOC, People’s Bank and National Savings Bank (NSB) – cumulatively serviced 128 LMD 100 clients in 2022/23 – that’s one more than in the prior year.
And notably, three banks (HNB, ComBank and Sampath Bank) also feature in the top 10 of the LMD 100.
