People’s Leasing bags yet another Gold at CA Sri Lanka Annual Report Awards 2013

Friday, 20 December 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Having won the prestigious Gold Award for five consecutive years in the Leasing Sector, People’s Leasing & Finance PLC yet again bagged the coveted Gold Award in the Finance Sector at the 49th Annual Report Awards organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. The company contested in the fiercely competitive finance sector for the first time since it became a finance company in November 2012 and competently became the joint Gold winner of the sector. People’s Leasing CEO/General Manager D.P. Kumarage expressing his contentment in the company’s achievement stated: “I am indeed delighted to see the company bag the Gold Award in the highly competitive finance sector first year itself after being a finance establishment. Gold award of the sector for the consecutive sixth year reflects our team’s competency and commitment to keep abreast of the best practices in standards and regulations of financial reporting.” The Annual Report Awards 2013 was organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka, the premier accounting body in the country in order to recognise the organisations that produce the most outstanding annual reports. The prestigious Gold Award earned by People’s Leasing proves the great deal of hard work that the company invests in presenting financial information in compliance with the accounting standards and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements and affirms the quality and the transparency of information presented in the annual report with creative excellence. The company also won the Gold Award in the competition class of print annual reports in Asia Pacific category at the ‘2013 Spot Light Awards’ a Global Communication Competition organised by League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). Competing with nearly 1,500 entries, the annual report of the company also secured the Silver Award in the Most Creative category and made way to rank at No. 36 among the Top 100 rankings of the competition, the highest position among the other Sri Lankan contestants at the competition, whilst the sustainability report of the company for the financial year 2012/13 bagged the Bronze Award in the Print (other) category. People’s Leasing, a subsidiary of People’s Bank, was incorporated in 1995 and is distinctly recognised as the and the largest non-bank financial institution in Sri Lanka, whilst securing market leadership in the leasing sector. The asset base of the company surpassed the Rs. 100 billion mark for the first time in the history of the non-bank financial institutions sector. With this landmark achievement, the company further strengthened its dominance in the financial arena of the country. The company is the highest rated finance company in Sri Lanka with two international ratings i.e. B+/B, a rating equal to the Sovereign from Standard and Poor’s and B+ rating, a notch below the Sovereign from Fitch Ratings International and AA-(lka) national long term rating from Fitch Ratings Lanka. Despite the challenges posed in the external environment for the leasing sector, the company recorded a post-tax profit Rs. 1.4 billion during the six months ended 30 September 2013. Adding more to its qualitative achievements, People’s Leasing was also ranked 18th amongst the top 25 listed companies in Sri Lanka - 2012/13 chosen by the Business Today magazine based on its financial performance and bagged the Gold award in the non-banking and financial sector for the second consecutive year at the recently held National Business Excellence Awards 2013 organised by the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka. These achievements not only reflect the formidable presence of People’s Leasing in the financial arena in the country, but also its commitment to adhere to best management practices whilst being a true benchmark in all that is exemplary in the corporate annals of Sri Lanka.