Biz Briefs

SLIM widens scope for Brand Excellence Awards

The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) will hold the Brand Excellence Awards 2012.

This is the 11th year of the Awards which recognises the outstanding performance of brands and brand custodians over the year. Targeting a record 150 plus entries this year, SLIM held the participants briefing session on July 25 and gave them a month's time to submit entries.

The grand finale on October 25 is billed to be the biggest event to date with an audience of over 800. The venue being SLECC.

Union Bank 2Q income up

Reporting on its performance for the six months ended in 2012, Union Bank of Colombo PLC (UBC) said that an upturn in performance was seen in several areas. Growth was highlighted in the Bank's core activities and showed a 53.5 percent year on year growth in the bank’s loan book to reach Rs 19.8b.

Total deposits of the Bank reported a year on year growth of 45 percent to Rs 21.5b as at June 30, 2012. During the six months period, Gross loans and advances increased by 15.49 percent and the total deposits increased by 11.2 percent.

Interest income of the Bank stood at 1,507m with a 57.4 percent growth compared to the previous period. Interest expense showed a 98 percent growth due to the increasing interest rates and the growth in the base. The Bank showed a noticeable growth of 65.7 percent in non-interest income for the period.

Non-interest expense of the bank also increased by 38.7 percent mainly due to expansion of the business operation.

Bread Talk: Second outlet opened

BreadTalks opened its second outlet at Park Street, Colombo 2, last week. The outlet serves a range of products for health conscious consumers with an array of bakery items prepared with whole meal flour, unpolished rice toast, sunflower seeds.

It is housed in a refurbished 100-year-old colonial building. The interior of the bakery is on par with the general BreadTalk theme, but the authentic feel of the colonial building was kept untouched.

The new premises boasts of the largest open kitchen concept in Asia and the seating area is available both indoors and outdoors with a cafe style atmosphere. Managing director of BreadTalk, Yatila Wijemanna said that BreadTalk is a unique experience to Sri Lanka from the food items, the ambiance to the serving procedure.

Royal Ceramic upgrades workshop

Royal Ceramic Plc, Eheliyagoda has installed a lathe machine in their workshop which is being upgraded along with the factory expansion program.

The lathe machine was supplied by Allied Trading and Engineering (Pvt) Ltd, the agents for Uniprize of UK. Uniprize Machine Tools Ltd. was set up 15 years ago.

The company's Managing Director Peter Indjov, has over 20 years' experience in the building of machine tools.
 

Spa Ceylon partners with SriLankan Airlines’ FlySmiLes

Spa Ceylon, the chain of ayurvedic spas and wellness product range, is partnering with the SriLankan Airlines’ frequent flyer program, FlySmiLes, to introduce a one of a kind co-branded loyalty card.

FlySmiLes members will receive benefits including discounts, point accruals and redemptions when they use Spa Ceylon products and services, and Spa Ceylon Platinum card holders will be able to convert Spa Ceylon points to FlySmiLes’ Miles as a result of this partnership and co-branded card. FlySmiLes is designed to make loyal customers of the airline feel special by providing a range of benefits including reward tickets, reward upgrades, excess baggage, and priority check-in as well as various promotions carried out periodically.