ADVERTORIAL

Maliban wins National Quality Award again

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

Maliban Biscuits was presented with the National Quality Award 2010 in the large scale manufacturing category.

“Winning the award was the ultimate goal for us and our focus is always on the customer. There were seven categories that were looked into while selecting the awards winner and we were able to achieve this with hard work and commitment,” Maliban Biscuit Manufactories (Pvt) Ltd Sales and Marketing Chief Executive Officer Ravi Jayawardena said.

“All our product innovations start from customers and ours is a customer centric approach. We continue to identify the customer behaviour and preferences. This is how our product Smart Cream Crackers was able to double the sales volume in nine months,” he said.

“This endorses our product quality and marketing strategy by the customers. Our marketing research has paid off well and we take decisions based on the information gathered. The award is a combined effort of all departments and we work in the same speed to achieve success,” he said.

“Though worldwide competition is high the company was able to double the exports during the last year. Even in the Western countries we are doing exceptionally well. Maliban pays special emphasis in safeguarding the environment as looking after the environment is important in today’s context,” Jayawardena said.

Maliban first won the National Quality Award in 1996 and the company has demonstrated its consistency and commitment to quality by winning the award for the second time in 2010.

The Sri Lanka National Quality Award recognizes organizations in Sri Lanka for their performance excellence annually. The selection process is handled by the Sri Lanka Standard Institute.

Multi Finance reaches another milestone

In complying with the regulatory requirements the shares of Multi Finance Limited (MFL) got listed on May 30 on the Diri Savi Board of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) by way of introduction. The listing of the company’s shares has paved the way for the local investor community and the stakeholders of MFL to be a part of the company’s continuous growth prospects. This is yet another landmark achievement for MFL, which is gradually evolving to become a leading entity amongst the registered finance companies in Sri Lanka.

MFL is registered as a Finance Company with the Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under the Finance Companies Act No.78 of 1988. Headquartered in Kandy, MFL now has branch offices in Colombo, Gampaha, Kurunegala and Matara. It has Central Bank approval for disbursing funds for leasing, hire purchase, pawn broking and mortgage and other loans, and for accepting savings and fixed deposits from the public.

Founded 37 years ago as a family-owned business, MFL provided financing for consumer durables. In February 2008, it became a part of the Entrust Group, which also includes Entrust Securities - a Central Bank appointed Primary Dealer in Government Securities. Entrust Securities helped MFCL in its statutory investments in Government Securities, and in the proactive identification of interest rate trends. As at March 31 2011, Entrust Limited owned 15,516,772 shares of MFL amounting to 86.32 percent of its share capital.

After Entrust Limited took over control in 2008, MFL’s performance improved significantly despite the lack of confidence in Registered Finance Companies shown by depositors at the time, which resulted in significant outflows of funds from the industry during 2009. As Group Executive Director and CEO, A. H. M. Riyaz, explained, “Our total asset and lending asset portfolios showed impressive growths from 2008 to 2009, despite widespread financial turmoil and heightened credit and liquidity risks.

Our board of Directors and senior management team used their unrivalled expertise to mitigate the heightened risks to which all financial institutions were exposed. Our track record proves we can grow even under hostile market conditions.”

The strategic focus of MFL is building relationships proactively with clients by providing financial services customized to their changing needs. As the MFL Chairman Dr Asoka N. Jinadasa, explained, ‘What makes us different from all other financial service providers is our focus on delivering a tailor-made, innovative service to individuals and enterprises. We are small enough to make all our clients feel they are our only client.

We have only 5 offices with less than 50 staff. They have the ability to build long-term financial relationships proactively with our clients, which go far beyond conventionally reactive customer service. The latest online IT system we are currently installing will boost our client service to unprecedented heights.”

During the nine-month interim period ending Dec 31 2010, when compared to the nine-month period ending Dec 31 2009, MFL’s book value per share increased by 5.6 percent from 14.00 to 14.78 rupees, earnings per share increased by 16.9 percent from 0.89 to 1.04 rupees and return on average assets increased by 50 percent from 2 to 3 percent. Over the same comparative period, MFL’s total assets increased by 73.6 percent from 397 to 689 million rupees, deposits increased by 31.5 percent from 111 to 146 million rupees and retained profit shot up by a massive 464 percent from 11 to 62 million rupees.

Kotler lauds Hameedia’s service delivery

In honour of his recent visit to Sri Lanka, Hameedia Managing Director Fouzul Hameed gifted Prof. Philip Kotler with a pair of 925 sterling silver cufflinks monogrammed with his initials ‘PK’, a dress shirt made from the finest Italian fabrics Cotonnificio Albini and apparel accessories.

Added to this was a full suit made of 100 percent Italian woolen fabric which was Bespoke Tailored within 24 hours as per his requirements.

The world marketing guru Prof Philip Kotler also took time off in between sessions of the recently concluded ‘Knowledge Forum’ and ‘CEO Forum’ which was organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, to visit Hameedia’s ‘CEO Studio’ at a specially created enclave at the seminar at the Water’s Edge.

This studio focused entirely on the CEO and his sartorial and overall grooming needs.

In his ‘Public Knowledge’ Forum, Prof Kotler acknowledged and lauded Sri Lanka’s leading menswear specialist Hameedia for turning out his suit in less than 24 hours which was an achievement.

In fact Hameedia was the first out of three local brands referred to by Prof Kotler in his presentation.

“Having Prof Kotler acknowledge Hameedia’s service and quality is indeed a great achievement and an endorsement of our expertise and commitment to international quality menswear.

Prof Kotler is acclaimed as an innovator and has revolutionized marketing all over the world, thus adding great value to businesses and customer.

We at Hameedia share similar brand values and are proud to have revolutionized the menswear market in Sri Lanka,” said Fouzul Hameed.