LAUGFS to enter Australian auto market with A $ 2 m investment

by L. S. A. Wedarachchi

LAUGFS Gas Company, a pioneer auto gas converting company in Sri Lanka will enter the Australian Auto market with an investment of Australian $ two million.

The first Sri Lankan team of Auto gas convertion services left for Australia on Monday and they expect to commence operations in Australia by the end of this month.

The Chairman of LAUGFS W. K. H. Wegapitiya said "LAUGFS has grown from a mere Rs. 13 million total revenue in 1996 to a staggering Rs. 5,300 million as at last year.

The exceptional revenue growth-experienced by the group is an indication of the conviction with which LAUGFS has been accepted by the Sri Lankan consumer. Traditionally the energy business is the territory of global big companies.

For a local company like us, it's absolute taboo. But I believe in taking up challenges to achieve the almost impossible. The key is not to minimise risk but to measure and manage it, he said.

The LAUGFS Australian venture is the first energy company in Sri Lanka to branch out into operations overseas.

According to the chairman there was a huge potential for auto gas conversion. Encouraging the vehicle owners, the Australian government is providing 3,000 Australian Dollars for converting each car to gas, he said.

In 1995 LAUGFS Auto Lanka pioneered the conversion of Petrol to Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Sri Lanka commissioning the first petrol to an auto LPG conversion plant.

LAUGFS has achieved the objective of establishing the concept of petrol to auto LPG conversion as a proven safer alternative. Experiencing greater prowess and efficiency conversion operation continues, the chairman said.

Meanwhile, LAUGFS Holdings Ltd will launch LAUGFS branded lubricants islandwide shortly. The government has given approval to LAUGFS Holdings to import, distribute and sell LAUGFS brand lubricants in Sri Lanka. It will be the first Sri Lankan lubricant available in the country.

Wegapitiya said the company has gone through the demanding and painstaking process of developing its lubricants through Italsing Petroleum Limited of Singapore, a leading lubricant blender in the world.

"Being fully aware of the demand for quality standards of the local consumer LAUGFS has put its lubricants through the most demanding lubricant quality tests in the world.

The quality of LAUGFS lubricants has been internationally recognised after its lubricants obtained the approval of the American Petroleum Institute (API) and Daimler Chrysler (Mercedes Benz) for the use of LAUGFS branded lubricants in its vehicles, he said.

At the inception LAUGFS will manufacture all its lubricants through Italsing Petroleum of Singapore. Later it will set up its own blending facility with the option to contract manufacture for other lubricant players.

LAUGFS will have the complete range of synthetic and mineral based automotive lubricants. In addition it will introduce the complete range of industrial lubricants which will include transformer oils, white oils and liquid paraffins, Petroleum Jellies, Rubber Process Oils, Hydraulic Oils and Grease.

The lubricant market both automotive and industrial is around 46 million litres. In terms of value the lubricant market was growing at an average of 16.2 percent per annum.

According to the chairman the LAUGFS lubricants business strategy has already developed and targets to capture 15 percent of the market share in the first year and to become the market leader in three years time.

LAUGFS, the true Sri Lankan Corporate is resilient having achieved the impossible in a world of global giants, said the chairman who received an award at the Sri Lanka Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 awards ceremony of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka.

[email protected]