Chevron Lubricants Managing Director/CEO Kishu Gomes rings the Bell to mark the opening of trading for May. Others from left are Chevron Manager Finance & Planning Erande De Silva, GM Sales Bertram Paul, Director/CFO Anura Perera, CSE Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka , CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike and Director Moksevi Prelis - Pic by Lasantha Kumara. 

Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC (Chevron) rang the opening bell to commence trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday.

The market opening ceremony was organised to mark the first trading day for the month of May. 

Chevron’s CEO/MD Kishu Gomes, Director/CFO Anura Perera, GM Sales Bertram Paul, Manager Finance and Planning Erande De Silva and others from the company’s senior management were present at the event. CSE Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka, Director Moksevi Prelis, CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike and the senior management of CSE were also present. 

Speaking at the ceremony, Gomes said “We are proud about what we have been able to deliver to our shareholders. We focus on creating shareholder value by managing the performance of the organisation and by taking a day-to-day approach to compliance and conformance. Listing on the CSE has created a need for transparency, a need that has benefitted us when building a corporate brand both locally and internationally.” 

 “We are pleased with how we have created value for both the market and the country. We believe that liquidity of our share market capitalisation will improve further with the implementation of the recently announced share split,” he added.

CSE Chief Kulatilaka commended Chevron for its strong presence in the market and stated that the company’s listing has offered investors value and variety. He acknowledged the efforts made by Chevron to create shareholder value, especially the company’s measures to offer benefits to minority shareholders via dividends. 

Commenting on developments at the CSE Kulatilaka further stated “A number of important developments at CSE are expected this year. The Broker Back Office system is almost complete, which is a prerequisite to implement the CCP and also to implement Delivery vs. Payment. We are also looking to list foreign companies at the CSE to offer a better portfolio to our investors and to create market depth. These developments will help the CSE to reach international standards, standards that are essential when providing infrastructure for the exchange of securities.” 

Market Opening Ceremonies are conducted by the CSE to serve as a platform to generate exposure for listed companies as they celebrate important milestones in the capital market. 

Chevron upbeat amid macro pressures

By Shehana Dain

Despite market contraction and macro strains the country’s top lubricant supplier is confident on keeping its margins up this year primarily owing to low oil prices.

Chevron Lubricants Managing Director/CEO Kishu Gomes said that the company has its strategies set to counter challenges and reach its customer base. 

“Base oil prices have been hovering around rather with the crude oil prices and the prices have been down the past two years. Therefore we have been accruing the benefits of that and passing on price reductions to the customers. This has obviously helped us to cushion some of the cost increases in other areas and will be reflected in our bottom line,” he noted.

Elaborating on the company’s decreased market share over the past two years he highlighted that management strategy has singled out margins over market share.  

“In terms of market share we don’t chase market share anymore, we chase margin share. I know some companies can boast of high market share figures but if you ask them what their margin share is it would be a completely different answer you may get,” he added.

However while mentioning that the company still puts significant emphasis on market scale he explained that Chevron’s strategy to stay away from the two stroke engine oil market which captivates 10% of business and average technology markets could have been the primary cause for the decline market percentile.

“The two stroke engine oil market, the segment size is about 10% and we don’t play in that segment anymore because it’s predominantly kerosene based and harmful to the environment. Our majority shareholders vehemently oppose anything that affects the environment. Similarly there are other segments where average technology is sold and we don’t play in those because we don’t believe in it. Our strategy is to play in premium segments”