Chairman’s Message

Dear Shareholders,

Message from the

Chairman

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 14th Annual General Meeting of Raigam Wayamba Salterns PLC and present you with the annual report of your company together with audited financial statements for the financial year 2018/2019.

The company faced a few short-term challenges during the year under review especially with respect to maintaining the upward revenue trend that was sustained over the last few years. The environment conditions were good, yielding a bumper harvest but this also meant that there was a market saturation given the inelastic demand for the commodity with many players flooding the market resulting in a downtrend in pricing that ultimately affected bottom lines. Despite the negative market dynamics

Despite the negative market dynamics that persisted over the year under review where price competition affected margins across the salt industry, your company minimized their impact by concentrating on promoting the brand.

that persisted over the year under review where price competition affected margins across the salt industry, your company minimized their impact by concentrating on promoting the brand. While all other players showed a significant drop in Year-onYear (YoY) revenue, I am proud to note that your company weathered the market conditions with a sound long-term branding strategy that proved itself in terms of maintaining visibility, increasing brand recognition and reducing the revenue loss.

While political and social uncertainty and turmoil significantly affected the overall business environment as well as the national economy, your company’s product portfolio was one of the few that were minimally impacted by these external dependencies. However, to ensure that our vision of “being the convenient partner in enhancing the taste and health needs of the nation”, your company was not content with simply providing the highest quality of salt to the nation but worked tirelessly in research and development during the year under review to enhance the existing product range as well as introduce a new range of vertical products. These includeg double fortified salts infused with both iodine and iron, flavored salt products and products specific to industries such as tanning and washing.

The real value of your investment has remained over the years at a point above market price calculated on a net asset basis. However, this year, the earnings per share dropped due to the above-mentioned reasons from the all-time high of Rs. 0.53 per share to Rs. 0.37 YoY. In keeping with the dividend policy of the company, your Board has recommended a first and final dividend of Rs. 0.05 per share.

Raigam Wayamba Salterns PLC is a close-knit family and as such, I take this opportunity to gratefully and sincerely extend my appreciation to all of our stakeholders including industrial and retail customers, distributors, suppliers and service providers. Without their yeoman efforts and their trust in our capabilities, we would not have been able to weather a comparatively tumultuous year. Finally, while I extend my utmost gratitude to my colleagues on the Board of Directors, and the entire staff for their invaluable contributions during the year, I take this opportunity to say a very special thanks to you, our shareholders. Your confidence in our management has been a pillar of strength on our journey as we forge our way into a bigger and brighter future.

Dr. Ravi Liyanage

Chairman

23 August 2019