CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards recognise ‘responsible entrepreneurship’ as hallmark of Investor Relations function

Sunshine Holdings Team with CFA Society Sri Lanka Immediate Past President Dinesh Warusavitharana, CFA Society Sri Lanka Past President Rachini Rajapaksa and Sunshine Holdings team Investor Relations Head Hiran Samarasinghe and Business Analyst Nilakshi Morage

With the 10th annual CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards – which recognise and reward professionals who have established benchmarks for the advancement of domestic capital market participants – scheduled to be held in June this year, CFA Society Sri Lanka, as the organisers of the event, reflects on the award-winning achievements from the 2022 edition of the awards.

The CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards are presented under five categories including Best Investor Relations Team, where the objective is to recognise companies that practice investor relations (IR) to interactively communicate with the investor community, and encourage best practices in IR that are supportive of informed and efficient capital markets. For the second year running, Sunshine Holdings has been conferred the Gold award for the Best Investor Relations Team at the CFA Capital Market Awards in 2022. 

Spotlight on CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards

In Sunshine Holdings’ view, the CFA Society Sri Lanka Capital Market Awards have positively impacted the industry, particularly when it comes to pushing entities to improve standards. Being recognised and rewarded for implementing good practices is also said to spur healthy competition in the industry. 

Taking into consideration the recommendations of CFA Society Sri Lanka over the past few years, Sunshine Holdings has looked to strengthen its IR practices, going above and beyond in some instances, with the aim of maintaining consistency and standards in line with international IR practice standards.

Emphasising the importance provided to the IR function when communicating with stakeholders, Sunshine Holdings has adopted the concept of ‘responsible entrepreneurship’. The company believes that ownership is different from when it’s merely one’s own money and that listed entities have a duty to be transparent with investors given that they have entrusted the company with their money to make the best investment decisions.

Sunshine Holdings Investor Relations Head Hiran Samarasinghe elaborated: “Being a publicly listed entity, we do not see the IR function as an option or ‘a nice to have’. We have taken the public’s money, and they have a right to know what we do with it. For us, the IR program is a responsibility and a duty toward our investors – and we are very passionate about fulfilling that duty.” 

Investor relations keep stakeholders in the know

The past year was an unprecedented one for the country, amid a number of events ranging from citizen protests to fuel shortages and power interruptions. Set against this backdrop, Sunshine Holdings utilised its IR arm to convey the impact of such events on the business to wider stakeholder groups. 

To this end, the company maintained its quarterly investor relations webinar, which was used as a platform to communicate what was happening on the ground every quarter. The unique feature of this IR program was that direct access was given to each SBU Head, where they would elaborate on all industry and operational elements of the business and the challenges faced during the quarter.

By making the webinar recordings publicly available through the company IR website and social media channels, Sunshine Holdings looked to reach a comprehensive set of stakeholders, giving them equal access to timely information. Stakeholders are said to have appreciated the clarity given to them in the respective operating business, significantly reducing the uncertainty and risk associated with such a volatile period. Sunshine Holdings highlights disclosure levels as being a key challenge while confirming that the company does not practice selective disclosure, with everyone holding access to the same information publicly available through the company website. It has not introduced any new IR practices, instead focusing on maintaining consistency. Towards competing in the market effectively, the company does not divulge competitor-sensitive information.

“Our IR philosophy revolves around providing the same level of information to all types of stakeholders without any selective disclosures, which is also in line with our Group values, which are integrity, responsibility, and trust. We make our information consistently available to every interested party through our website,” Samarasinghe remarked.

Furthermore, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns are a part of the corporate strategy and practices across the Group’s companies. Sunshine Holdings considers ESG principles in business decisions and cascades them down to the management and operational staff for them to adhere to and follow within the corporate culture. With respect to the merits of implementing robust ESG practices, particularly with foreign investors showing a keen interest, Samarasinghe stated: “Governance plays a key role when competing for investments. That is why as a Group, we have secured international funding from reputed global establishments, which in turn were confident about the Group’s governance structure.”