Renuka Holdings in Forbes Asia‘s ‘Best under a US$ Billion’ two years in a row

Renuka Holdings PLC was one of the two Sri Lankan companies selected by Forbes Asia for this great honour at an award ceremony at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore recently.

Forbes Asia’s ‘Best under a Billion’ are Asia Pacific’s top midsized companies. According to Forbes, the criteria of selection included profitability, growth, modest indebtedness and future prospects.

Forbes editors picked 200 companies out of a universe of over 15,000 Asia Pacific companies with actively traded shares and sales between US$ five million and US$ one billion.

As per Renuka Holdings annual report for 2011/2012 released to the Colombo Stock Exchange, it is a diversified holding company with subsidiaries engaged in three core sectors.

The food and beverage sector is headed by Renuka Shaw Wallace PLC (formerly known as Coco Lanka PLC). Renuka Shaw Wallace’s businesses consist of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), food service, dairy and agri exports. These operate under Renuka Consumer Foods, Shaw Wallace Ceylon, Shaw Wallace Food Services, Renuka Products, Renuka Agri Foods, Renuka Organics, Renuka Teas Ceylon and Kandy Plantations. Renuka Shaw Wallace operates five factories, nine processing centres, two plantations, and an out-grower network exceeding 5,000 farmer families and a state-of-the-art warehouse and logistics centre. The organisation exports to 61 countries, and locally distributes to 65,000 grocery outlets island-wide as well as to hotel, restaurants, catering establishments among others. The company directly employs 1,240 people.         

The Automotive sector is headed by McShaw Automotive, a joint venture between Renuka Holdings PLC and McLarens Holdings Ltd. This sector employees 95 individuals and represents two fortune 500 companies. The company is the market leader in the brake oil category with Delphi Lockheed brand leading the way. It is also a significant player in the tubes, two wheeler and three wheeler tyre segments with its brands Grip, Dunlop and Pioneer, among a range of other automotive products.

The investment and services division is engaged in portfolio management, real estate, logistics and the provision of management services. The organisation has a valuable real estate bank in Colombo and intends to develop it with international partners.

The year under review was a milestone year for the group as gross profit surpassed one billion rupees, for the first time. The group performed remarkably with revenue of Rs. 5.4 billion, which is a 100% growth over the Rs. 2.7 billion recorded the previous year. Profit-after-taxation was Rs. 510.6 million, while total equity of the group grew from Rs. 4.8 billion to Rs. 6.7 billion at the end of the financial year.

As per the recent Colombo Stock Exchange release, the group recently concluded a re-alignment of its companies and re-branding of its food and beverage holding company from Coco Lanka, to Renuka Shaw Wallace. As part of this aggressive expansion, Renuka Shaw Wallace is raising Rs. 1,008 million by way of a rights issue which closes on Friday 7 December 2012.

Elaborating on the Forbes Award and the future direction, Director/Chief operating officer Renuka Holdings Shamindra Rajiyah said, “We are most honoured by this international recognition this year as well. This recognition of Renuka Holdings PLC is a reflection on the hard work, commitment and dedication of all our stakeholders and our constant aim for perfection. Our recent re-alignment of companies and aggressive expansion in the food and beverage space will seize the opportunities the country offers and will see us entering the next phase of corporate growth.”

The Board of Directors of Renuka Holdings PLC: Chairperson I.R. Rajiyah, Group Managing Directors Dr S. R. Rajiyah, C.J. De. S. Amaratunge, L.M. Abeywickrama, S.V. Rajiyah, J.M. Swaminathan, T.K. Bandaranayake, M.S. Dominic and A.L. Rajiyah.