Richard Pieris & Company

Richard Pieris & Company PLC
Type	Public
Traded as	CSE: RICH.N0000
Industry	Manufacturing; Engineering; Rubber; Plantations; Retail and Tyre; Pumps; Construction
Headquarters	Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka
Key people	Dr.Sena Yaddehige ; Prof. Susantha Pathirana ; Prof. Lakshman Watawala ; Mr. Paul Ratnayaka ; Mr.Sunil Liyanage
Revenue	34.7 billion Sri Lankan rupee (2013)
Number of employees	over 24,000 (including Plantations)
Website	Official Website

Richard Pieris & Company PLC (ARPICO) established in 1940 it is one of Sri Lanka's largest conglomerates with interests in manufacturing, engineering, retail and plantation industries. It is a pioneer in the tyre, plantation and rubber industries of Sri Lanka. With a staff strength of more than 25,000 the company's major brands includes Arpitec, Arpidag and Arpico.

History

The company was founded in 1932 as a partnership initially dealing with the plantation and tire industries. [1]. Initially it started as a family business. The founder member of the company Mr. Richard Pieris [2]. Since then it has diversified into the areas of manufacturing, pumps, retail and engineering sectors. The company also pioneered the concept of hypermarkets in Sri Lanka through their 'Arpico Super Centre' chain. Today the company has more than 1000 retail outlets including dealerships and factories island wide.

Ownership Change

The Pieris family’s stake in Richard Pieris as well as other large blocks of the company’s shares was acquired by Dr.Sena Yaddehige and related parties in a hard-fought take over in 2002-2004[3] [4].

Rubber

The company is engaged in the manufacture of moulded, extruded and foam rubber both for the export and domestic markets. Major markets include North America, Europe and the Middle East. The division conforms to ISO 9002 standards.[5]

Tires

Richard Piries Company is the market leader and the pioneer in the tyre Retread industry of Sri Lanka and commands a market share of nearly 60%. In addition to that it has become the largest Retreader in the whole of South Asia which is a remarkable achievement for a Sri Lankan company. The company is associated with Bandag Corporation – USA and Birla Group India.

Plantations

The group is one of the largest players in the plantation industry with ownership of major plantation companies including Maskeliya Plantations PLC, Namunukula Plantations PLC and Kegalle Plantations PLC. The sector employees more than 24,000 people combined.

Retail

With its retail arm ‘Arpico Supercentre’ the company is the largest retailer of general household products in Sri Lanka. The company pioneered the concept of Hypermarkets in Sri Lanka.

Board of directors

The board is composed of distinguished professionals in their respective fields.

Members of the board include:

Sena Yaddehige – is a Swiss based scientist/engineer who developed the largest automotive sensor business in United Kingdom and is a holder of worldwide patents for many engineering related technology.
Susantha Pathirana – is an accomplished engineering professional and is a graduate in Production Engineering from the University of Peradeniya and holds a Msc and PhD in Mechanical Engineering. He has also held the post of Dean of the Engineering Faculty of the University of Peradeniya.
Lakshman Watawala – is a charted accountant and serves on the boards of many public and private companies. He has also held the post of director at Peoples Bank , BOI , and State Mining and Mineral Corporation and the founder president of CMA Sri Lanka.
Mr. Paul Ratnayaka – is a distinguished lawyer with degrees from the University of Colombo and the University of London. He is also an Attorney of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England.
Mr.Sunil Liyanage – having joined the company in 1974 counts over 35 years of experience in the field. He is a competent professional in the fields of rubber and plastics industries.

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[history-1] Arpico - About Us/History

[2] ttp://www.island.lk/2005/02/06/business8.html

[3] ttp://www.island.lk/2005/02/06/business8.html

[4] ttp://www.island.lk/2002/07/10/busine01.html

[rubber-5] Arpico - our tyre business