BPPL Holdings only Lankan company listed in Forbes Asia’s 200 ‘Best Under a Billion’

BPPL Holdings PLC has become the sole Sri Lankan company to have entered Forbes Asia’s 200 ‘Best Under a Billion’ list.

BPPL is one of Southeast Asia’s largest brush manufacturers and Sri Lanka’s largest plastics recycler equipped with one of only two plants in the world capable of creating polyester yarn directly from recycled PET plastic flakes.

Forbes evaluated over 20,000 publicly traded companies in the Asia-Pacific region this year with revenues of under $ 1 billion and consistent top-and bottom-line growth from which only 200 were selected. 

Companies were selected based on a composite score that incorporated their overall track record. This includes debt, sales, and earnings-per-share growth measures over both the most recent fiscal year and three-year period and the strongest one- and five-year average returns on equity. Aside from quantitative criteria, qualitative screens were used as well. 

A leader in sustainable business, offering a solution to Sri Lanka’s waste management issue, the Group recycles over 360,000 PET bottles a day into polyester yarn and monofilaments. It has recycled over 380 million bottles since it commenced its recycling operations in 2011.

BPPL is one of the few pure Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) impact companies in Asia with a collective focus on sustainability. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Eco Spindles Ltd., and Beira Brush Ltd., the group exports recycled polyester yarn, monofilaments, and professional and household cleaning tools to international markets, including India, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Canada, and the UK. The Group also produces household cleaning brushes retailed locally, under the brand ‘Tip Top’.

The Group has also won awards and accolades as the first and only plastic recycler to be honoured with the National Green Award at the Presidential Environmental Awards in 2019 and was also ranked among the top 10 at Recycling Heroes in 2021 at the International Recycling Heroes Awards organised by the Global Recycling Foundation for Global Recycling Day in 2021.

After overcoming pandemic-related obstacles, the Group also concluded the fiscal year 2020/21 with remarkable improvements in all key financial metrics. The consolidated revenue of BPPL increased by 31% year-on-year (YOY) to Rs. 3.4 billion. The Group Net Profit After Tax increased by 23% YOY to Rs. 497 million. 

“To be recognised on an international platform such as Forbes is an enormous accomplishment and honour. COVID-19 inflicted many challenges upon us, but we refused to surrender and worked towards achieving the goals we set forth as a Group. To all stakeholders involved, I’d like to thank you for your efforts and services towards BPPL. This is a collective win,” stated BPPL Holdings Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Dr. Anush Amarasinghe. 

“We hope to continue this long-term growth trajectory through investments such as expanding our yarn and monofilament production facilities by investing in cutting-edge technology. We are also increasing the pipeline of product orders, diversifying our product range, expanding our market share by capturing new geographies and customer segments,” he added.

BPPL Holdings has also been one of the best-performing stocks in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) as there is a growing and serious interest from foreign buyers. This is primarily attributed to the growing demand for pure ESG impact companies, as the focus is now placed on value-based investing. 

Furthermore, with the depreciating Sri Lankan Rupee and price volatility due to foreign exchange fluctuations, BPPL Holdings is one of the very few companies listed on the CSE that generates nearly all its revenue in USD – an integral solution to the foreign exchange crisis.