Friday Nov 15, 2024
Friday Nov 15, 2024
Tuesday, 24 June 2014 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Annual Capital Market Awards Night and Forecast Dinner held by CFA Sri Lanka heralded yet another chapter in the annals of the Sri Lanka’s capital markets.
Awards were made in three categories; Best Equity Research Report, Best Investor Relations and the Best Stockbroker Research Team, recognising the efforts of those who have established industry benchmarks in these disciplines and made contributions to the advancement of the domestic financial markets.
With a Gold award won by Capital Alliance Ltd.’s Reshan Wediwardana for the Best Equity 
Research Report for his analysis on Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) PLC, Dialog Axiata PLC winning the Gold for Best Investor Relations and C T Smith Stockbrokers Ltd. hailed as the Best Stockbroker Research Team, the prestigious CFA Awards has undoubtedly set a new benchmark for recognition in the capital market industry.
Lourdeena Kudaliyanage from John Keells Stockbrokers Ltd. won Silver for the Best Equity Research Report on HNB Assurance PLC, while the collective efforts on the research produced for John Keells Holdings PLC by Chethana Ellapola, Anjula Nawarathna, Anouk Weerasinghe and Nilruk Soysa of Acuity 
Stockbrokers Ltd. gained the Bronze. Textured Jersey Lanka PLC and National Development Bank PLC won Silver and Bronze respectively for Best Investor Relations.
Promoting global best practices
In his welcome address, President of CFA Sri Lanka Sheyantha Abeykoon reiterated that this awards night is integral to CFA Sri Lanka’s endeavours to promote global best practices in the country’s financial market. “Our aim is to promote and encourage practices that would lead to a more robust and efficiently functioning capital market.”
Buoyed by the success of the inaugural event held last year, he said: “We have expanded the award categories this year and will also continue to promulgate the importance of an inclusive effort by all stakeholders to uphold the standards of integrity in the market; a key theme of CFA Institutes, The Future of Finance project.”
He added that he was of the firm belief that the award categories focusing on Equity Research and Investor Relations will pave the path to reward and encourage market participants and a wider stakeholder community to invest in uplifting the standards of these very important market practices.
Judging process
The panel of judges evaluating the Best Equity Research Report comprised eminent experts in equity markets whose evaluations included financial analysis, valuation, industry overview and competitive landscape, company overview, value drivers and share dynamics and investment risks and recommendations.
While two judges evaluated each submission followed by a shortlisting, the final seven reports were evaluated by all judges for a final ranking. In addition to highlighting and rewarding the work done by financial analysts, this category aims at promoting best practices in equity research and promotes an informed and efficient capital market driven by fundamentals.
In fact the panel of judges commented that while there was a tangible improvement in the standard of reports evaluated, there was also better focus on future strategies of companies, better competitor/industry analysis with regional and local peer comparisons, a more in depth understanding of the variables impacting valuations and that recommendations came with more conviction.
There were 16 companies shortlisted for the Best Investor Relations category, based on the strengths of their investor relations practices and responsiveness. The shortlisted companies were ranked by a user group of analysts from stockbroking firms, rating agencies, fund managers and institutional investors.
Communicating interactively with the investor community formed the foundation for these awards where increasing awareness on the crucial role played by investor relations for markets to function efficiently and encouraging best practices were the overarching fundamentals.
Evaluation criteria stemmed on accessibility of management, quality of disclosure and transparency, fairness in disclosure and consistency of the investor relations function in all conditions.
The Stockbroking Research Team Award was inaugurated this year from a survey conducted among user groups including Registered Investment Managers, Licensed Unit Trusts and Large Corporate Investors. This was based on the criteria of depth and breadth of coverage, forecast and stock picking accuracy, industry knowledge, timeliness of ideas, responsiveness to investor requests, timeliness and dissemination of news and reports and providing corporate access.
Yet another dimension to this celebrated event was founded in the discussion, ‘How private equity works with businesses’, fuelled initially by keynote speaker, Executive Director/CEO Hemas Holdings PLC Steven Enderby, giving panellists Country Manager IFC Adam Sack and Director/CEO of NDB Rajendra Theagarajah thought provoking insights for lively discourse, moderated by Director Lynear Wealth Management Zaffar Jeevunjee.
Ultimate vision
Having begun the evening declaring that these CFA Awards and Forecast Dinner forms a strong foundation to upholding the tenets of the Future of Finance initiative, Abeykoon concluded that CFA’s vision of shaping a trustworthy, forward-thinking financial industry that better serves society is the ideal blueprint for evolution of the financial ecosystem.
“This is a definite avenue to achieving that ultimate vision because we are in effect, providing tools that would motivate and empower each actor in the financial ecosystem to commit to fairness and integrity.”
