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| Sunday, 16 October 2005 |
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Business |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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SLFL fastest growing leasing company by Elmo Leonard Sampath Leasing and Factoring Ltd (SLFL), four months since its inception is already claiming to be the fastest growing leasing company. The company opened a branch in Kandy, and will shortly open an office in Matara in a further show of the company's initial thrust into the competitive leasing arena, the media was told. "We are a serious contender in the leasing business," head of client relations, D. G. G. S. Yapa said. Answering questions, senior manager - marketing and operations, Roshan Gunasekera said that SLFL was having a turnover of over Rs 100 million in leasing per month, "while bigger companies record business of Rs 100 million in a year." Gunasekera said that SLFL's rates of interest were low, "due to low overheads the company has to bear." SLFL, a fully owned subsidiary of Sampath Bank is initially into the leasing of vehicles and equipment and counts 200 clients, it was said. Its clientele spans as far as Muttur and Trincomalee, in the north east, to Weligama and Dikwella in the south of the island, Yapa said. The two branches will be electronically linked to the SLFL head office in Colombo. SLFL's aim is to take their services to clients wherever they may be. Their first two branches are strategically placed. Kandy is a focal point for several importers and dealers in motor vehicles. A prospective client who selects a vehicle from a vehicle dealer in Kandy, Katugastota and Akurana is within easy access of leasing facilities. The Matara branch in the town is a hub of business activity in the vicinity of banks and financial institutions. In the medium and long term the company has projections of taking their services to as many provincial locations as possible, in the shortest possible time, Gunasekera said. SLFL will first focus on the small and medium enterprise sector as the SME is a well recognised economic catalyst driving GDP growth and bolstering the economy, assistant general manager finance, Sanjeewa Bandaranayake said. SMEs are known to create employment, develop rural industry, alleviate poverty, breed entrepreneurs and culminate imbalance in regional development. SLFL's strategy also attempts to capitalise on SMEs being perennially beset with under capitalisation. In such a situation, leasing and factoring companies could provide easy accessible capital through simple documentation and disbursement procedures. "This is the basis of the new symbiotic relationship between SMEs and leasing and factoring companies, each with its unique characteristics well serving the needs of the other," Bandaranayake said. |
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