Yaddehige denies exit from RPC

Following the recent news reports (not in the ANCL group) titled "Yaddehige seeking to exit from RPC' the Richard Pieris Company wishes to categorically state that the facts therein are both baseless and misleading.

"Contrary to the claims made by the writer, who has relied on stock market speculation to draft the article, neither the Company nor its Chairman has any intention of entertaining offers to sell RPC or dispense of any of its business. Any keen observer of the company's progress records and its potential would concur that to do so would be both imprudent and of extremely poor business sense.

In the last five years, the RPC group's turnover, profitability and market capitalization has increased fivefold. It has under Dr. Yeddehige's steering, gained in strength and diversified its business operations to several new areas including construction, real estate, transportation and media.

All the recent diversifications have already paid dividends, propelling RPC to remarkable good positions in the industries concerned - an indication that the future can only get better.

Furthermore, these new ventures are only a part of the story. RPC is a 75-year-old company that has achieved new heights in plantations, retail, plastics, rubber, tyre and furniture industries and has firmly established itself as one of Sri Lanka's top conglomerates.

The company employs a massive 35,000 people, including a top-of-the-line management team, who are the company's greatest resource and the driving force behind its success.

The writer's reference to the fires that occurred in a few RPC factories and manpower issues as being grounds for a desire to sell is unfounded since the element of risk involved in any business venture, be it the smallest industry or the largest conglomerate, is part and parcel of entrepreneurship.

Fortunately, as a responsible and respected player in the country's economy with a strong sense of duty towards its workforce and its safety RPC is well insulated from such exigencies and is confident of a swift and effortless recovery."