News & market updates

Brown & Company PLC's Browns Agriculture won the Gold Award for “Global Brand of the Year” for its Browns SUMO WORLD Harvester at the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards 2025. The harvester holds a 73% national market share and features advanced monitoring and extensive after-sales support.

Agstar PLC appointed Sajeewa Ranasinghe as Chief Executive Officer effective 15 October. Ranasinghe is BSc (Univ. of Moratuwa) and CIMA/CGMA qualified, and was previously COO/CFO at Associated Battery Manufacturers and held senior finance and executive roles at Ambeon Holdings, Phoenix Industries and Orange Electric.

AgStar PLC appointed Sanjaya Nissanka and Shamal Abeysinghe as non-executive directors; both are senior agribusiness executives linked to Brown & Company and Browns Agri Solutions.

Agstar PLC sold its entire 4,500,000 ordinary shares in Agstar Exports (Pvt) Ltd for Rs35.3 million, the company said in a stock exchange filing; the buyers were two named individuals. Agstar voting stock was trading up 10 cents at Rs8.40.

Brown & Company PLC reported FY25 consolidated revenue of Rs. 107.82 billion and PBT of Rs. 25.88 billion, with total assets of Rs. 752.69 billion. The Group completed major East Africa Lipton plantation acquisitions, took controlling stakes in Sierra Cables and Tea Smallholder Factories, and saw strong results across its plantations and hospitality units.

Colombo market turned bearish as the ASPI slipped 2 points to 17,115 on turnover of Rs.7.34bn and a net foreign outflow of Rs.2.2bn led by JKH; capital goods led turnover while NDB, COOP, AEL and Sierra Cables rose and Browns, Royal Ceramics, Melstacorp, LOLC and Hayleys lagged.

Colombo market slipped as the S&P SL20 fell 0.6% amid high turnover of Rs.8.4 billion, led by John Keells, Access Engineering, Browns Investments, Commercial Bank and Amana Bank; ASPI closed flat and foreign investors were net sellers of Rs.924 million.

ASPI rose 0.8% to 13,885, crossing a 30% year-to-date gain while turnover topped Rs.6 billion, led by John Keells, LOLC, Digital Mobility (PKME), Dialog (DIAL) and Sampath Bank (SAMP). The market closed positive for a 12th consecutive day with notable retail and HNW participation.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon signed an MoU with AgStar PLC to enable farmers using the Bank’s Diribala Green Development Loan Scheme to buy smart agriculture equipment with AgStar offering a 5% discount plus free advisory and installation. The partnership also includes training, after-sales support and maintenance.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon held an Agri Modernisation Fair in Vavuniya to promote smart agriculture and showcase technologies, with participation from Hayleys, AgStar, John Deere, DIMO, CIC and Browns. The event included lectures on economics of modern farming and practical drone demonstrations for input application.