Hatton Plantations starts trading at Colombo Stock Exchange

By Shannon Jayawardena

Hatton Plantations Limited (HPL), the third company under Sunshine Holdings began trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday.

The Company saw 213,330 of its shares transacted via 163 trades generating a turnover of Rs. 1.6 million. The share price closed at Rs. 8.60, up by 80 cents or 10.2%

HPL Non-Executive Chairman Sunil G. Wijesinha said the company reached a decision some time ago to segregate the upcountry tea plantations from the rest of the plantations at Watawala, so as to focus “more directly and intensely” on the tea sector.

“We are pleased that we have finally gotten a listing, and shares will start trading today. When we embarked on this journey to segregate, we promised the shareholders that we were hoping to get a listing for the newly created company, and we are very happy that as of today it is listed,” said Wijesinha.

The shares, which were listed by introduction on the Diri Savi Board of the CSE, have been classified under the ‘plantations’ sector. The occasion was marked by a bell ringing ceremony hosted by the CSE.   

CSE CEO Ray Abeywardena said: “This is the third listing that we have had in the last 32 days. It is a very good start for the year. We are very confident that the markets will soon pick up. We are heartened by the levels of Hatton Plantations’ disclosure to good governance and the manner in which their business is run. We are happy to have an establishment of such caliber seeking a listing.”

HPL Non-Executive Chairman Sunil G Wijesinha, Directors Shyam Sathasivam, B. A. Hulangamuwa, Nirmal Fernando, Lallith Ramanayake, CSE Chairman Ray Abeywardena, CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike and its senior management were all present at the ceremony.