Raigam Wayamba Salterns PLC started its journey in 2005 as a BOI company engaged in the manufacture, refining, packeting and marketing of salt products. By the time Raigam entered this trade, despite the fact that Sri Lanka was surrounded with sea and blessed with best weather conditions for manufacture of salt, unfortunately the country was depending on imported salt, bleeding it’s treasured foreign currency and neglecting all potential economic benefits of the industry. Despite several industry barriers, Raigam’s challenging decision to invest in the industry has brought many advantages to the country at large. Today the Raigam Wayamba Salterns PLC is reaping the harvest of its strategic investment recording a substantial growth even in the wake of the sudden unforeseen global challenges that engulfed the world.

RWS Group has 2 different salterns; Puttalam and Hambantota. In addition to that Raigam Group (Holding Company) owns another saltern in  Trincomalee and also a significant stake in Puttalam Salt Limited. Accordingly the Raigam Group holds a significant control over the salt industry. On the other hand this forms a strategic triangle. Instead of putting all the eggs in one basket, the group has diversified its operations. It is known that the weather patterns of Sri Lanka are fairly unpredictable. If one saltern is hindered by unfavorable weather conditions, the supply shall remain relatively unaffected given that the rest are operating unobstructed.

According to the recent published interim financial results the group as at 31^st December 2020 turnover has increased from Rs. 516 million to Rs. 658 million with a growth of 27.5% purely representing the stable growth of the company even during the pandemic situation. The group which was rocketing up its after tax profit though out previous quarters, has escalated to a recorded after tax profit of Rs. 104 million at the end of the quarter 3 which is a 73.3% growth compared to last financial year, increasing the EPS from 0.21 to 0.37 to protect the owners wealth while confidently facing macro-economic vulnerabilities due to the current pandemic. This remarkable growth in performance has finally resulted in growth in net assets per share from Rs. 4.63 reported at the end of previous financial year, to Rs. 4.90 where it was only Rs.4.81 at the end of 2020/21 quarter 2 giving a clear indication of asset growth and overall stability of the group.

The pandemic crisis brought many dents in the growth of firms across the island. However, the group managed to tackle these challenges optimally. At a time where companies sought to cut-down their labour forces, RWS refused to resort to lay-offs. The relevant dividends were paid off in time. The employees were even offered an enhanced remuneration package due to the hard work and commitment shown during the difficult period. The need for moratorium did not come up at any stage.

RWS operates with an island-wide distribution network which reaches over 90% of the retail, wholesale and modern trade outlets as well as industrial users in the country. As innovative Salt manufacturer in Sri Lanka, a variety of products is marketed in order to fulfill the need of each segment in the market.

Globally, almost all the industries are suffering with set-backs due to COVID19 pandemic. It was observed that despite several challenges, RWS has recorded very satisfactory operational and financial results for the first 9 months of FY 2020/2021.