ADVERTORIAL

SFS opens in Vavuniya

Offering full range of financial services :

Swarnamahal Financial Services Limited opened its newest branch at No. 141, Kandy Road, Vavuniya on January 13 by E A P Group of Companies Directress Deepa Edirisinghe and Director Nalaka Edirisinghe.

At the opening, Edirisinghe said that “Swarnamahal Financial Services aims to sustain the development of this area by identifying the much needed financial Solutions of the native community. We offer utmost financial solutions for both individual and corporate customers by taking into account, how best they can be served, as a Finance Company and offer a full range of financial services namely, fixed deposits, saving accounts, pawning services, leasing and hire purchase. The key aspects of our services are friendliness, flexibility, trust and personalized services.

“Our company is powered by one of the industry’s best IT systems. All the Branches and Pawning Centers are electronically linked, enabling to do real time transactions during 365 days of the year. All the pawing centres including pawning divisions of branches are opened 365 days of the year from 8.30 am to 6.00 pm,” he said.

“Presently, SFS has fifteen branches and rapidly expanding the branch network to strategically identified cities to reward the native community. We have already opened two branches in the Northern and the Eastern provinces, namely Jaffna and Trincomalee respectively and plans to open a branch in Batticaloa in March 2011,” he said.

He said that the gross income which was Rs 295 million up to December 2009 has been drastically increased by 58 percent reaching Rs 466 million up to December 2010 and the company has recorded a before tax net profit of Rs 82.6 million up to December 31, 2010 in the current financial year as against Rs 8.5 million which was for the same period in the last financial year.

Nalaka Edirisinghe said, “SFS plans to raise 55.6 million from a private placement of the company’s ordinary shares in February 2011. The number of shares to be issued is 2,780,000 at an issue price of Rs 20 each. Accordingly, we have decided to offer an opportunity to our valuable customers for the subscription of the ordinary shares of the company.

This issue will enable the company to maintain the required public float of 10 percent from the stated capital to list the company on the Colombo Stock Exchange as per regulations stipulated by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.”

Swarnamahal Financial Services Limited is managed and led by the Chairman Dr Soma Edirisinghe, together with the Board of Directors, Deputy Chairman Jeewaka Edirisinghe, Director Nalaka Edirisinghe, Directress Deepa Edirisinghe, Director Asanka Edirisinghe, Director Sunil Abayaratna, Director Mahendra De Silva and Director and CEO Sameera Ganegoda.

Nissan Patrol dominates

4x4 Adventure Trophy 2010:

The 4x4 Adventure Trophy 2010, which takes competitors all over the country, was held in Sri Lanka recently with wide participation from local and international drivers.

The event covering 850 kilometers across the island over five nights and six days, saw some of the most renowned brands of vehicles ranging from Land Rovers, Jeeps, Toyotas and Nissan Patrols competing in challenging areas which were almost impossible to drive in.

Out of the 16 vehicles that participated only nine were able to complete the race due the extreme conditions and torrential rain.

The event started with a rally in Colombo and continued to many exciting places in Sri Lanka such as Horana where the vehicles had to drive through difficult terrain on muddy tracks and then on to Kahawatte and Samanalawewa where the competitors camped close to the reservoir, Balangoda, Kalupahana and Bambarakanda falls -the tallest waterfall in Sri Lanka where a special stage was performed (SS), back to Balangoda and through Diyaluma and Wellawaya where four special stages were performed, Moneragala, Maligawila, crossing an area bordering Kumbukan Oya, crossing Hullandawa river with 6 SS’s held in the area including river crossing, steep climbing on muddy hills and Kirinda in the final stage where three special stages were held.

Associated Motorways (Private) Limited (AMW) sponsored three well-known Australian drivers who had previously won the famous Australian off road event the Outback Challenge. These three drivers and their specially prepared Nissan Patrols were the AMW and Nissan team, which led the pack in the 4x4 Adventure Trophy 2010 beating all others.

The winner of Outback Challenge 2008 Adrian Parker with his driving partner Alain Magile driving a Nissan Patrol Y61 was the overall winner of the competition while winner of outback Challenge 2010, Rain Forest Challenge Peter Mihailoff and Stevan Hudson driving a Nissan Patrol Y60 GQ Model came in third place.

The local champion Chaminda Daiju, who came in fourth place, was also a Nissan Patrol Y 60 driver.

The 4x4 Adventure Trophy 2010 which required driving in extreme and challenging areas of Sri Lanka against natural obstacles, proved to be one of the toughest 4x4 events in Sri Lanka.

John Keells Hotels wins Gold for Annual Report

John Keells Hotels Group won the Gold award in the hotel category for its Annual Report for 2009 and 2010 at the competition held recently for Excellence in Annual Reports; conducted by the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. The theme of the award winning annual report was based on ‘Broadening Horizons’.

The theme depicts the group’s interest in enhancing its offering through maximising its potential.

Signal introduces new junior toothbrush

Unilever Sri Lanka’s iconic oral care brand Signal has always been a pioneer in oral care products with the objective of inculcating a good brushing habit in Sri Lankans. In yet another groundbreaking initiative, Signal will introduce a new Signal Junior toothbrush with a new innovative design for which the TV commercial was filmed using ‘Motion Capture’ technology for the first time in Sri Lanka. The commercial commenced airing from January 7.

The same technology seen in many Hollywood blockbuster movies such as Avatar, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol, Motion Capture is the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model, thereby saving many hours and even weeks of work that would otherwise be spent drawing each individual movement in an animated commercial.

Unilever Sri Lanka Oral Care and Deodorants Category Head Nilushi Jayathilake said, “Signal has, for the past five decades led the way in finding innovative ways for improving oral health care standards of Sri Lankans. From delivering the best oral care products in our toothpastes and toothbrushes, to our renowned Sinabowewa dental camps and school programs which were carried out to instill the much necessary habit of brushing at night. To us, and a brand such as Signal, constantly striving to offer to our consumers the best that technology can deliver has become a routine job. It is this innovative spirit that has made signal the most trusted and the most used oral care product in Sri Lanka.”

The TVC depicts children having to go through what they consider the mundane task of having to brush their teeth at night before bed, but to their amazement as they pick up their toothbrush they are transported to a fantasy world depicted on the handle of the toothbrush, where they become instant heroes battling away waves of evil germs bent on wreaking havoc.

LOWE LDB Executive Creative Director S. Nathasoruban (Soruban) said the idea behind this commercial was to make children brush with Signal Junior, while allowing them to get into their fantasy world which they love to do. “Being a father myself, I realized that kids hate brushing their teeth, but they love to play. However the toothbrush is not a toy, so the challenge for us was to make brushing seem a fun and playful activity for them.

This is where we got the idea of depicting the children entering a make-believe world simply by picking up their toothbrush and brushing their teeth.” According to him, the commercial was created specially to speak to kids on their level thereby helping to cultivate a good habit, while easing the burden their parents face in getting the children to brush at night.

The commercial was produced by Nilan Cooray of Sky Entertainers who also directed the commercial and was the effects supervisor. According to Nilan, before any shooting was done all staff had to be trained on how to use this technology - as it is not easy to master. However, thanks to the dedication and spirit shown by his team, they were soon able to master the technology which resulted in the production of a high quality commercial within a very short period of time.

For the shooting of the commercial for Signal, 12 infra-red cameras were positioned in a circle in which the actor performed all motions clothed in a suit of spandex/lycra made especially for motion capture.

With renewed focus:

DFCC Vardhana Bank steps into 2011

DFCC Vardhana Bank (DVB), the everyday banking unit of the pioneer development bank, DFCC Bank entered 2011 with renewed focus under the guidance of the bank’s CEO Lakshman Silva. Taking over as the Bank’s CEO in January 2010, Silva has seen DVB through a fruitful year amidst many challenges.

Experiencing an aggressive growth in branch set-up last year, DVB was the only commercial bank to increase their presence at 51 strategic locations across the island, opening 45 extension offices and six branches. Speaking of plans for 2011, Silva said, “This year we will concentrate on consolidating our operations as well as our position in the industry.

We will work towards introducing more personal finance products, which will be based heavily on the emerging trends in the market. While designing these products, we will concentrate mainly on satisfying our customers’ basic day-to-day banking needs.”

Already armed with a 123-strong branch network, this year DFCC Vardhana Bank will focus on increasing the bank’s presence in the north-east and the deep south. In 2010, the bank opened branches in the North and East with the Central Bank’s Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal being the chief guest at the opening of the branch in Jaffna. DFCC Vardhana also opened branches in Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee. The bank’s 100th branch was opened in Moratuwa in September and branches in Pettah and Embilipitiya in December.

The first quarter of the year will also see the bank launching the Vardhana VISA International Debit Card, which will provide DVB customers access to over 1,600 ATMs in Sri Lanka and over two million across the globe. Also included in the product portfolio growth plan later on in the year, is the addition of a leasing product, which will initially be offered exclusively to the Bank’s customers.

In the past year, the Bank received the much coveted MACO award, from the Mass Communicators Association of Sri Lanka. The award received for the immense contribution the bank rendered through its partnership with Sri Lanka Post towards the improvement of infrastructure in the peripheral and rural areas of the country is proof of the bank’s commitment to provide exceptional banking inclusions to people in rural areas - creating employment opportunities while also supporting the overall plans of the government in developing the rural and peripheral areas of the country.

2010 also saw DVB receiving affirmation from Fitch Ratings Lanka on its National Long-term rating at ‘AA-(lka)’, confirming the bank’s outlook as stable.

This renewed Fitch rating verifies the stability of DFCC Vardhana Bank, exhibiting its satisfactory performance amidst challenging economic conditions both locally and internationally.

Further improving on DVB’s product and service offering, the introduction of enhanced security features on the Vardhana Visa Credit Card not only made shopping for DVB customers a safer experience but also made transactions fraud-free.

The previous year also saw DVB signing up with Sampath Bank, offering customers enhanced ATM network facilities with a combined set up of over 240 ATM points across the island. The next phase in this project involves obtaining connectivity to the visa ATM network providing DVB customers accessibility to the worldwide VISA ATM network comprising over 2 million ATMs in the first quarter.

Last year, DVB launched two new products: Vardhana Nenasa and Vardhana Sandella. Vardhana Nenasa is aimed at providing financial assistance to students and professionals who wish to pursue their higher education. The other newly launched product, Vardhana Sandella is designed to facilitate basic housing needs and is validated by its popularity in the marketplace.

Strengthening the concept of financial inclusion at the bank’s extension offices spread out across the island, the bank introduced an innovative and reliable solution – Vardhana Mbanker.

Using mobile terminals, DVB banking executives visit customers to carry out basic banking activities, with a view to provide banking inclusions hitherto consumers especially in rural areas who had been deprived of modern banking facilities. This innovative banking service is a step towards embracing technological development and moving with the times, while also constantly working on improving the bank’s service offering.

DFCC Vardhana Bank has grown from strength to strength over the past seven years, since its inception and the achievement of 123 delivery points across the island makes it one of the fastest growing commercial banks in Sri Lanka.