With over 11 years in agro-forestry and forestry investment:

Touchwood revolutionises Lanka's business landscape

Touchwood was listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange in 2002 the Initial Public Offering was oversubscribed.

The Company had established plantations and the Holding Company in Thailand, which markets products globally, was registered in Hong Kong, by 2004.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa being given a plant

Touchwood now yields an array of sustainable forestry products as investment opportunities to both institutional and retail investors.

With over 2,500 acres of private forestry plantations that are home to high value, exotic tropical timber, Touchwood's client portfolio exceeds 25,000 investors, operations spanning across eight nations.

Touchwoods' vanilla plantations entered the third year of posting on-target returns to investors, approximately six plus years into the cultivation process.

Touchwood today epitomises the very best in agro-forestry practice and is a sustainable business model that not only delivers commercial value to clients but also helps Mother Earth through sustainable re-forestation.

Poyry, one of the largest independent forestry consultants in the world, in their assessment of the Company notes, "Touchwood has a sound base for their investments, the plantations are intensively managed by a well-motivated and knowledgeable staff.

The Company has a strong, unique concept compared to other forestry companies in the world."

CEO of Touchwood Channa Abeygunawardena said, "future value is at the core of the Touchwood business proposition, Consumers are increasingly demanding timber from sustainable sources.

The proportion of timber harvested from old growth natural forests will decline in favour of timber from sustainable managed resources in the future.

Touchwood's agro-forestation equals habitat control plus future value is indeed a compelling proposition for the future sustenance of eco and financial assets despite economic downturns.

Ours is a "bulletproof" business model that paves the way for the enhancement of our clients' investments while simultaneously purifying Mother Earth's lungs."

Touchwood's experience in agro-forestry over the last decade, has given the Company the ability to garner exceptional support for future growth.

Analysts cite certain competencies such as Touchwood's investment advisory and management team - which includes some of the world's foremost authorities in the area of agro-forestry - its operations in over eight countries across the world, and its stakeholder network which acts as a catalyst for innovation and in connecting with critical business partners, as unique fundamentals for the future success of the Company.

Abeygunawardena sums up the Company's expectations for the future when he said "with the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and global warming coming into effect in 2005, the world entered a new era where investors increasingly sought businesses that preserve, rather than destroy the environment.

In this new era, the Touchwood Group has prospered and is poised for future growth and enduring success."

Founded in 1999, Touchwood has grown to become a pioneer in forestry investment in the Asia Pacific region.

The Touchwood story goes back to Sri Lankan entrepreneur Roscoe Maloney who was inspired to act creatively to what he considered to be a growing global need.

Maloney's father-in-law, a furniture maker by trade, often complained about the rising cost and scarcity of timber and indeed it was this close to home concern that encouraged Maloney to think of an out of the box solution for not only timber supply but unmanaged deforestation in Sri Lanka.

Maloney remembered passing tree plantations in Australia where he had gone to school as a young man and wondered why lush, tropical Sri Lanka didn't resort to tree plantations as a means to supply the demand for timber.

And so inspired, an idea and a company were born.