The Finance says on a sustainable growth path

The Finance Company Plc (TFC) last week assured the public that it wasn’t affected by the recent controversy over the share market transaction and that it was on a sustainable growth path.

The TFC management led by Chairman Preethi Jayawardena and CEO Kamal Yatawara briefed the media on some of the recent progress of the company as well as challenges.

“The public should be assured that TFC would not be affected by the recent TFC-NSB transaction, which is strictly a private affair between the owners of the shares and NSB, and has no impact on TFC or its depositors,” the company said.

TFC is a 72 year old company and holds the prestige of being one of the pioneering non bank finance organisations in the country. The firm has been known to have led the market in many aspects with a range of innovative business avenues such as real estate and super speed vehicle loans.

During the recent global recession when finance institutions the world over were facing strife, and whilst certain financial companies failed to meet obligations to depositors, TFC managed to stand tall to retain and safe guard the interests of its loyal customers. Moreover it was also able to conduct a successful share issue through which it obtained the direct backing of many major public and private sector institutions such as Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank and Seylan Bank, who now holds a major stake of the company bearing evidence to its credibility.

The loan disbursements of the company have seen accelerated growth of 123% in 2011/12 compared to 2010/11. Whilst the new deposit intake has been on the upward trend with a year on year growth of 170% for fixed deposits and 54% for savings, there has been a high percentage of deposits being reinvested with the company at maturity. Not surprisingly, the company enjoys its status as the custodian of one of the largest deposit bases in the non bank finance sector of the country amounting to over 20 billion. Moreover, TFC was able to conclude operations for the month of April

on a high note recording a remarkable inflow of new deposits of over Rs. 1 billion apart from renewals.

This is a clear indication of the level of public confidence placed on the organisation. Pawning being a main contributor to the company’s bottom line has lived up to its expectations, recording a year on year growth of 237%, justifying the decision to open dedicated pawning centres island wide including the north east. In keeping with the expansion plan of the pawning operation, the company opened new Pawning centres in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Maharagama. Furthermore, the company opened two new pawning centers yesterday (23rd May) in Nuwara Eliya and Mahiyanganaya. The Matugama Branch was opened today (24th May) in a prominent location in the Matugama town in line with the branch expansion program of the company.

The real estate sector, given its maturity as a longstanding strategic profit centre within the company has shown an astounding growth of 350% in sales, bringing in Rs. 2.7 billion. Recent land sale projects of the company have proven to be highly successful providing good returns, while offering to the customer at the market price or even below with sound infrastructure mainly due to the companies high bargaining power over suppliers.

Owing a great deal to its loyal customer base not forgetting the dedicated employees who have stood by the organisation at all times, TFC has forged ahead at great pace over the many obstacles it has come across and looks into a future which will undoubtedly be stronger in serving all its stakeholders better. TFC, which is a household name with over seven decades of unmatched excellence in the industry, is at present backed by prominent state banks. The company has employed the services of an internationally reputed agency to restructure the organisation, which is now being implemented to serve its customers with many value additions to maintain its market leadership. This reiterates the fact that the company is in safe hands and on sound footing towards sustainable growth.