John Keells number one at Business Today TOP TWENTY

John Keells Holdings retained the number one position for the second consecutive year, thereby reinforcing its stance as the giant of corporate Sri Lanka at the Business Today TOP TWENTY, which was held with the participation of Prime Minister D M Jayaratne, and Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe, at the Cinnamon Grand, Colombo, yesterday.

Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka secured the second position in the ranking. Strengthened by its legacy to inspire the Group is aligned to achieve greater levels of performance with Chairman D H S Jayawardena’s dare to be different attitude, where opportunities are identified with acute sharpness, the Group’s contribution to overall national growth is deemed to rise in the future. At number three is Commercial Bank of Ceylon having surpassed Rs 5 billion in profits, a first for domestic non-State financial institutions in Sri Lanka. Renewed financial policies, in particular the removal of exchange controls provided ample opportunities for financial institutions in Sri Lanka. As such Commercial Bank of Ceylon is ideally placed to perform well provided that they make the right decisions and carry them through effectively.

Bukit Darah was placed fourth in the rankings while Hatton National Bank secured the fifth position. Dialog Axiata was placed at number six followed by Sri Lanka Telecom at number seven. Lanka Orix Leasing Company, DFCC Bank and Sampath Bank ranked at eight, nine and ten respectively.

Aitken Spence was placed at number 11, while Diesel and Motor Engineering followed at number 12. Richard Pieris and Company re-entered the Business Today TOP TWENTY ranking at number 13 followed by Hayleys at number 14. Colombo Dockyard, NDB Bank and Cargills (Ceylon) secured the 15th, 16th and 17th positions respectively while Hemas Holdings entered the Business Today TOP TWENTY for the first time at number 18, Chevron Lubricants Lanka and Seylan Bank completed the Business Today TOP TWENTY ranking at number 19 and 20 respectively.