Hayleys crowned winner at CA Sri Lanka’s 54th Annual Report Awards

Hayleys PLC yesterday won the Gold award for Overall Excellence in Annual Financial Reporting at the 54th  Annual Report Awards 2018, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. Here Hayleys Chairman Mohan Pandithage (centre) with the award – Pic by Upul Abayasekara 

Leading conglomerate, Hayleys PLC triumphed at the 54th Annual Report Awards, winning the coveted ‘Cyril Gardiner Memorial Trophy’ Gold Award for Overall Excellence in Annual Financial Reporting at the grand finale held last night.

John Keells Holdings PLC won the silver award, while Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC won the bronze award under the same category. 

The event organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) was held at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo under the patronage of the Governor of Central Bank Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy.

Under the ‘Management Commentary Award’ Hayleys PLC won gold while Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC won the silver award and Softlogic Life Insurance PLC won bronze. Meanwhile, Union Assurance PLC won gold under the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting Award’ category while Access Engineering PLC won silver and People’s Leasing & Finance PLC won bronze. 

The ‘Corporate Governance Disclosure Award’ was won by Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC while Hatton National Bank PLC won the silver award and Softlogic Life Insurance PLC won the bronze award.

Top corporates were also honoured for adapting integrated reporting practices at the grand finale.  Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC won the gold award under the ‘Integrated Reporting Award’ category while Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC received the silver award and Softlogic Life Insurance PLC won the bronze award.  Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC won the gold award under the ‘Integrated Reporting: Best Disclosure on Capital Management’ category while L.B. Finance PLC won the silver and People’s Leasing & Finance PLC won the bronze. Under the ‘Integrated Reporting: Best Disclosure on Business Model’ category, Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC was adjudged the winner bagging the gold award while Softlogic Life Insurance PLC won silver and Mercantile Investments & Finance PLC won bronze. 

This year, the organisers received applications from a wide range of organisations includingconglomerates to multinationals as well as small and medium-sized enterprises and non-profit organisations who vied for the prestigious awards which spans a history of over half a century. 

Under the sector awards, John Keells Holdings PLC and Hayleys PLC shared the ‘Lal Jayasundara Memorial Trophy’ gold award for ‘Diversified Holdings (Groups above 10 Subsidiaries)’ sector while Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC won the gold for ‘Diversified Holdings (Groups up to 10 Subsidiaries)’. Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC won the ‘Edmand J Cooray Memorial Trophy’ gold award under the ‘Banking Institutions’ sector while Bank of Ceylon won the ‘Albert A. Page Memorial Trophy’ gold trophy for the ‘State Bank’ sector. 

Nawaloka Hospitals PLC won gold under Healthcare Institutions, Hayleys Advantis Ltd. won gold under the Service Organisations sector, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC won gold under the Telecommunication Companies sector and United Motors Lanka PLC won gold under the Motor Companies sector.  Under the ‘Finance Companies & Leasing Companies (Total Asset above LKR 20 BN)’ sector, L.B. Finance PLC won gold while under the ‘Finance Companies & Leasing Companies (Total Asset up to LKR 20 BN)’ sector the gold award was won by Singer Finance (Lanka) PLC. Meanwhile, Singer (Sri Lanka) PLC won the gold under the ‘Trading Companies’ sector while the Nuwara Eliya Hotels Company PLC won the gold under the ‘Hotel Companies’, and Talawakelle Tea Estates PLC won gold under ‘Plantations Companies’.

Royal Ceramics Lanka PLC and Dipped Products PLC shared the gold award under the ‘Manufacturing Companies (Turnover above LKR 5 BN)’ sector while both Lanka Walltiles PLC and Alumex PLC also shared the gold award under the ‘Manufacturing Companies (Turnover up to LKR 5 BN)’ sector. Meanwhile, HNB Assurance PLC and Softlogic Life Insurance PLC shared the gold award for the ‘Insurance Companies’ sector while Ceylon Cold Stores PLC won the gold for ‘Food & Beverages Companies’. 

Under the ‘Not-For-Profit Organisations (NPO) Including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO)’ sector, the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing won the gold award while Seylan Developments PLC won the gold under ‘Land & Property Companies’. Meanwhile, Access Engineering PLC won gold under ‘Construction Companies’, Laugfs Gas PLC won gold under ‘Power & Energy Companies’ and LankaClear Ltd. won gold under the ‘Small and Medium Sized Entities’ sector. 

CA Sri Lanka President Jagath Perera said that as Sri Lanka inches towards upper middle income status, the professional community and corporates have an important role to play in our country’s forward journey by conscientiously promoting transparency, accountability and good governance which are important cornerstones for any developing economy. 

“In this journey, producing precise and transparent annual reports in line with the highest global standards should also remain at the top of the agenda of any organisation immaterial of its standing or stature in the business world as financial reporting also has a long term bearing on both a company and country,” Perera said. 

Annual Report Awards Committee Chairman Heshana Kuruppu said that it was refreshing to see organisations from blue chip companies to even small time non-profit organisations continuously demonstrating their commitment towards best practices in annual corporate reporting by vying for honours at the competition. 

“The importance of this competition has been highlighted by the consistent growth it has witnessed year after year. This year too, the institute took every effort necessary to update the marking scheme in terms of the latest accounting standards and other relevant pronouncements, to ensure the relevance of the competition,” Kuruppu added.