American & Efird Lanka named winner at Sustainability Reporting Awards

• Triumphs as most transparent and accountable entity for two consecutive years

American & Efird (A&E) Lanka, a fully owned subsidiary of one of the world’s premier industrial sewing thread manufacturer American & Efird LLC, USA, once again was lauded and recognised for its continuous transparency and accountability when it emerged as an overall winner in the General Services and Utilities sector at the ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards. The award is a tribute to American & Efird Lanka’s admirable performance towards economic, environmental and social impact caused by its everyday activities. This also goes on to successfully demonstrate its values, strategy and corporate governance model and its commitment to a sustainable global economy. A&E Lanka Managing Director Priyantha Aluthwatte said, “We are delighted to have been recognised as one of the most transparent, accountable and responsible business entities for the second consecutive year. This goes on to exhibit our commitment in maintaining and enhancing the highest level of sustainability compliance in the industry whilst also being aligned with global standards.” A&E Lanka is no stranger to ACCA Sustainability Reporting Awards and has been recognised by the awarding body on a previous occasion, when it won the overall award in the Manufacturing Sector last year. The re-affirmation of this through its win this time around emphasises the company’s drive towards maintaining and improving its overall performance regard to corporate governance, social responsibility and sustainability measures. The Sustainability Reporting Awards is an annual award competition conducted by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) with a view to recognising business entities, which strive to comply with GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards and have demonstrated excellence in sustainable development. Recently A&E Lanka also clinched an award for the best ‘Green Report’ in the country by the National Green Reporting System of Sri Lanka. The reporting system comprises 50 indicators including 24 environment indicators, 20 social indicators and six economic indicators. A&E Lanka’s long-standing commitment to Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS), sustainability, and social responsibility continues to be a top priority at all A&E’s operations globally, enhancing environmental sustainability in operations and in supply chain to meet expectations of both customers and stakeholders. As part of one of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of industrial sewing thread, embroidery thread and technical textiles, A&E Lanka operates with state of the art manufacturing and a total commitment to quality. A&E Lanka boast a large share of the Sri Lanka market for sewing thread and has also been endorsed as the Preferred Thread Solutions Supplier for the fourth consecutive year by the Sri Lanka Apparel Exporters Association (SLAEA). A&E has been in the textile business for more than 120 years and has continuously been recognised for its leading edge technology, orchestrated delivery logistics, continuous and sustained innovation, peak process efficiency, dedicated and flexible service and wide spectrum product portfolio. Through its global network, A&E’s products are manufactured in 20 countries, distributed in 44 countries and sold in over 95 countries. In recent years, A&E has increased its global product offerings through its acquisitions, very recent one being European-based Gütermann, a leading European manufacturer and distributor of premium, high-quality sewing thread, amongst Ludlow, Robison-Anton and Synthetic Thread, well known manufacturing companies of quality industrial sewing thread, technical textiles and embroidery yarns and thread.