Browns mulls leisure, healthcare sectors

Charumini de Silva

The Brown and Company PLC will diversify its portfolio further expanding into healthcare, real estate and modern trade retailing, while enhancing the other sectors such as power and energy, agriculture and leisure industry. Brown and Company Group Managing Director and CEO Murali Parkash said the company is focused aggressively on leveraging core competencies.

The company has performed extremely well during the last financial year and the company took a few strategic decisions to invest in sunshine industries. The company is expecting a higher growth for the financial year 2011 and 2012 with further diversification.

Brown and Company PLC is keen on entering into foreign collaborations in managing the leisure sector and if needed to the healthcare sector as well.

“We are keen to get the support and the expertise from foreign collaborations in the areas which the company has not got dominant expertise,” he said.

The company has already commenced groundwork on the leisure sector.

“The group is planning to build a three to four star resort in Kosgoda with a total investment of over Rs 1.5 billion. The blueprints are already in line with a room capacity of 150. The resort is expected to be complete by 2013. With the influx in the tourists arrivals the leisure sector especially from regional countries such as India, China and Japan the industry will continue to grow steadily.

The group has identified the leisure sector as a strategic sector as Sri Lanka has the advantage of diversity in all sectors compared to the other regional tourist destinations,” Prakash said.

The company is much focused on the leisure sector having plans to build a city hotel and few resorts in the east coast and down south.

With the company hoping to move its head office, there is a land bank of two acres in Darley road, which might be a possible location for the city hotel.

He said the group is keen on a location in Ratmalana to set up a housing development project and planning to relocate some of its factories logistics, warehouse, manufacturing and assembling to Makandura

Modern trading is another key area that the group currently focused at. Countries like Singapore has modern trade over 80 percent, where Sri Lanka has around 13 percent. However, with the impressive surge in the country’s economy there is much affluence to develop Sri Lanka as a shopping hub. This will help to increase tourist arrivals more from regional countries, while enhancing the economy of the country.

New agricultural ventures such as tea, rubber and sugar have performed well and the plants will be expanded further in the years to come. The tea and the rubber sectors were able to obtain high returns beyond the expectations.

The sugar plant in Hingurana, which is a private public partnership (PPP) of Rs one billion investment, will be ready to manufacture sugar by next year.

Commencing the sugar plant in 2012 will reduce sugar imports from 90 percent to 80 percent. The 3.2 megawatt hydro power joint venture of the company will be expanded to 13 percent by 2013.

Prakash said these are all long-term investments of the company will benefit company stakeholders as well as to the economy of the country. The group will continue its growth impetus in all sectors in the years to come.