Asia Securities hosts ‘The Dividends of Recovery’ investment forum

From left: Kantar Sri Lanka Director and Head Himalee Madurasinghe, Hemas Consumer Brands Managing Director Sabrina Esufally, Daraz Sri Lanka Managing Director and Country Head Rakhil Fernando, John Keells Holdings Consumer Foods Group President Daminda Gamlath and moderator Asia Securities Research Sector Lead FMCG/Consumer Hilal Zainudeen

Asia Securities, Sri Lanka’s leading independent stockbroking and research firm, hosted an investment forum as part of its Wealth Insights series of investor events, recently.
The event titled ‘The Dividends of Recovery’, focused on the outlook for the consumer and retail sector in Sri Lanka and brought together Asia Securities’ market-leading research and industry leaders with institutional and high-net-worth capital market investors. The session coincided with the release of Asia Securities’ latest proprietary consumer and retail sector research report and was followed by a discussion of sector dynamics that would guide better investment decisions. 

Asia Securities’ consumer and retail sector analyst Hilal Zainudeen presented the highlights from the consumer and retail sector outlook report for 2023. The presentation concluded that a consumption recovery will start to take shape by the last quarter of 2023 and into 2024, aided by a combination of factors, including the normalisation of key economic sectors – agriculture and tourism, moderating inflation levels across the economy, price adjustments helped by an easing of commodity input prices and availability of cheaper credit with interest rates reducing. 
Leading international market research firm Kantar Country Head Himalee Madurasinghe presented the results of her firm’s recent consumer sector review. She stated that over the past year, increased spending on essential goods has compelled consumers to deprioritise spending on other categories and since the transformation of shopping habits are long-lasting for many buyers, even as the financial landscape improves, companies need to implement well-thought-out strategies for the short and long-term growth.

The presentations were followed by an engaging panel discussion consisting of prominent industry figures: Hemas Consumer Brands Managing Director Sabrina Esufally, Daraz Sri Lanka Managing Director and Country Head Rakhil Fernando, John Keells Holdings Consumer Foods Group President Daminda Gamlath and Madurasinghe.
Commenting on the retail industry and shopper habits, Gamlath observed that there was a shift seen in footfall from the general trade channel to modern trade, mainly due to better availability of goods, while Esufally noted some of the similarities her company has seen in regional markets like Bangladesh with the situation in Sri Lanka. Fernando remained positive about the growth prospects of the e-commerce sector in Sri Lanka post the Covid-19 pandemic, while Madurasinghe described the socio-economic challenges that need to be mitigated and addressed to support a consumption recovery.