Amba Research partners CSE to study SL20 stocks

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and Amba Research Lanka have entered into a partnership to improve the visibility of the companies currently included in the S and P SL20 index.

Amba's experience in conducting emerging markets equity research for its global investment banking and asset management clients will help the CSE improve the visibility of these companies. Amba's equity analysts support sell-side and buy-side research teams in areas including coverage initiation and maintenance, sector and thematic research, financial modelling, news and event analysis, new product development, research marketing and quantitative equities.

In line with the partnership agreement, Amba Research will conduct equity research on the S and P SL20 stocks and deliver research reports to the CSE, which will be hosted on the CSE website.

The research reports will include a fundamental analysis of each stock, including the growth outlook, key risks, and the potential valuation range applicable for the company.

These reports, however, will not contain an investment recommendation and are primarily for providing investor education and creating awareness on companies included in the S and P SL20 Index.

The research reports will be followed by short, quarterly update notes upon the release of performance results by the initiated companies.

The S and P SL20 Index covers the 20 largest stocks (by total market capitalisation) listed on the CSE that meet the minimum size, liquidity, and financial viability thresholds.

The research reports on John Keells Holdings PLC and Aitken Spence PLC, which are the first two reports of this initiative, were released today and are now available on www.cse.lk.

These reports are accessible to any interested parties.

CEO of the CSE, Surekha Sellahewa said, "As a part of CSE's efforts in developing the local capital market, we embarked on this new initiative to release CSE-sponsored research reports for locals and foreigners and institutional investors.

We believe these research reports would help to reduce the information asymmetry between investors and listed companies".

Director and Country Head of Amba Research Lanka, Chanakya Dissanayake said, "We are excited about the CSE-Amba partnership and believe that we can help develop the local capital market by leveraging our experience in serving international markets and incorporating industry best practices.

The research reports will be mainly focused on giving the reader an overview of the industry and the company's outlook".