A review of Prathilaba: SEC TV show on investing in the stock market

By Dinali Goonewardene

Prathilaba was telecast on Rupavahini on Sundays at 10 a.m. The TV documentary, a studio discussion on investing in the stock market was commissioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission and panellists from the stock market industry participated.

These included stock brokers, research analysts, fund managers and officials from the Colombo Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission with audience participation by phone.

The show was hosted by Narada Bakmeewewa and among the participants who featured prominently were the Chief Executive Officer of Heraymila Securities Ravi Abeysuriya, SEC Assistant Director Tushara Jayaratne who recently left the Colombo Stock Exchange after a long stint to join the SEC, the CEO of Asha Phillips Dimuthu Abeysekera and Fund Managers S. Jevarman (who also heads the Unit Trusts Association), P. Asokan and Dulindra Fernando.

The Managing Director of Acuity Stockbrokers Deva Ellepola, CEO of People’s Merchant Bank Rajeeva Bandaranaike who headed the marketing arm of the stock exchange for a lengthy time and left mid last year to join the bank, Chief Operating Officer of the LOLC Group Kithsiri Gunewardena who headed the legal division of the SEC in the late 1990s, Managing Director of JB Securities Murtaza Jafferjee and Chief Financial Officer of Brandix and former Head of Research at HNB Securities Hasitha Premaratne also made guest appearances.

“The show received 37,292 responses from viewers for the weekly quiz, of which over 20,000 were SMSes,” said Tushara Jayaratna.

“The programme was structured and moderated well and met the education needs of investors and created awareness of the opportunities that were available,” a panellist, Ian Ferdinands, Manager Investments and Business Development, CeyBank Asset Ltd. said. “Unit trusts were showcased and investors made aware of the opportunities and risks,” he added.

In one of the initial shows Abeysuriya outlined at the outset the different avenues for saving and growing money such as investing in land, banking, etc., and the riskier investment option, which is thought to carry a higher return: Investing in stocks.

He drew on insights from a long-drawn-out career in equity markets to contradict authors who say that over a time horizon, say 10 to 15 years, as the market rises and the diverse risk of a basket of stocks even out, an investment is assured of growth.

He said investing in the share market was not the same as putting money in the bank and investments were not assured of growth, drawing attention to stock market crashes and thus as it emerged later, shows it was excess money after consumption, saving, etc. that was invested in the share market, which carries a higher risk return profile.

They digressed on the profile of investors, their age, access to spare cash to invest in the share market, time horizon of investments and ability to spend time to track their portfolios and make informed decisions and ability to bear risk inherent in investing in the share market.

The shows that followed featured research heads from broking houses such as Pasindu Perera from Asha Philiips Securities who tracked movement trends of the All Share Price Index and Milanka Price Index over a week and the effect of announcements of or disclosures made to the floor by listed corporates of significant issues or events affecting their companies and their resultant effect on trading and the Director Research of TKS Securities Danushka Samarasinghe who carried on in the same vein drawing attention to other events and financial news which affects share prices and research done by broking houses.

Attention was drawn to the economy and its cyclical patterns and panellist focused on the performance of the economy and indicators such as Gross Domestic Product and growth in diverse sectors which affect the performance and bottom line of listed companies.

Panellists ran though the differences between an Initial Public Offering through which companies go public or raise funds from the Colombo Stock Market for the first time diversifying their investor base and shares on the secondary market through which shares which are listed are traded.

The later shows took viewers on a road show to the outskirts graced by Minister Basil Rajapaksa and drew on the experience of outgoing Securities and Exchange Director General Malik Cader who put in an appearance amidst market rumours he was stepping down from his post and showed the stalls and teams from broking houses and investors who flocked to the event in their thousands.

While the show saw brokers from broking houses such as Bartleet Religare Securities take the stage prospective investors were given a feel for how to choose a broker.

The show ran through corporate documents like the articles and memorandum of association which gives companies their direction and determines their lines of business and how they interact with external stakeholders.

Shows ran through the types of investment options required by some investors such as some avoiding investing in companies dealing in meat produce, alcohol etc and the Central Depository System (CDS) through which shares are lodged and transferred and drew attention to Unit Trusts through which small investors access the market by investing in units which are pooled by the unit trust to make investments in shares under the vigilant eye of investment professionals.

The need to make informed investment decisions in a market which was seeing average daily turnover of Rs. 2 billion to Rs. 3 billion and seeking to draw investors drove the show and saw participants who are not veteran TV show hosts take the stage and deliver to their credit giving viewers insight into the share market industry.

As a follow on, an 18 week Tamil TV Series Prathilaban Moolthana Santhayum Muthaleeduhalum is presently being telecast on Vasantham TV on ITN from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturdays.