Sierra recording 100 p.c.profitability amid Lanka’s construction boom

Hiran H. SENEWIRATNE

RECORD : Sierra Cables Limited (SCL), a leading local low voltage cable manufacturer recorded a 30 per cent increase of turnover and also enhanced its profitability by 100 per cent last year due to the high economic activities in the country.

The reason for the company registering a very high turnover and profitability was the boom in the construction industry and infrastructure projects in the past few years, its Chairman Priyantha Perera said.

He said the company, which mainly manufactures cables under the brand name of Alucop, is the leading cable supplier to Sri Lanka Telecom, Lanka Electricity Company, Sri Lanka Electricity Board and many infrastructuring projects in the country.

The company has invested more than Rs 150 million to increase its capacity. It manufactures aluminum conductors, copper cables and enamel winding wires for local use and export.

Further, the company is also planning to manufacture bunch cables in the future for the export market.

They have already exported products to India, Bangladesh, Maldives and Dubai. It had opened a liaison office in Chennai in India. Sierra has an office in Dubai right now and is planning to set up an office in Africa to make their presence felt in that continent, Perera said.

Further, the company has invested in new machinery to enhance the capacity of the existing product range and is also introducing value added products to the market in the country, he said.

With the coming up of large infrastructure projects, including telecommunication, water supply and building construction ventures, the cable industry is growing at a steady pace. The Ceylon Electricity Board’s rural electrification programme is progressing well therefore SCL is the main supplier of cables for these projects.

To cater to the future demand the company has attached much priority to human resources development to enhance its capacity. It has also started an in-house training school for that purpose, Perera said.

Their factory is at Athurugiriya, which is equipped with fully automated state-of-the- art machinery and has a work force of 275 and is one of the prominent players in the local cables scene.

According to Perera the company manufactures 5000 tons of copper based products per year and expects to increase the quantity in the future.

SCL was incorporated in the year 2000 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Holdings Limited.