Kumar to retire as Finlays Chairman/MD but sit on Board

• Chief Operating Officer Sam Swire appointed MD/CEO

Finlays Colombo PLC Executive Chairman and Managing Director Kumar Jayasuriya will be retiring with effect from 31 August, 2013.  

He will continue to remain as a Director and the Board, at its meeting on 4 June 2013, appointed him as its non-executive chairman with effect from 1 September, 2013. At the same meeting, the Board also appointed S.C. (Sam) Swire as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, with effect from 1 September, 2013.  

Jayasuriya joined the Finlays group in 1981, and held positions of management accountant, financial controller, finance director and deputy chairman, prior to being appointed as executive chairman and managing director on 1 April, 2006.   He has been associated with the diversification initiatives of the company which has seen Finlays being transformed from a, largely, tea related business, to a conglomerate. Swire was educated at Eton College Windsor U.K., and holds a BA Hons., degree in Modern History from the University of Oxford UK. He has been employed in the Swire group since 2003 and has held positions in Hong Kong, China, U.S. and Singapore, in several group companies.  

His last posting, prior to joining Finlays as its Chief Operating Officer in October 2012, was as general manager of Cathay Pacific Airways in Beijing.  The Swire Group of Companies include investments in shipping, aviation, agriculture, industry, property development, and trading. John Swire & Sons Limited U.K., the parent company of the group, is the holding company of James Finlay Limited of the U.K., of which Finlays Colombo PLC is a subsidiary.