Silumina
Silumina is a weekly Sinhala language newspaper published by the state-owned Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL/Lake House). Commencing its publication in 1930, the paper currently features news content on local and foreign affairs, sports, business and finance. As per the readership survey conducted by the Kantar Lanka Market Research Bureau for the year 2017, the paper has a readership of 1.92 percent. It’s daily edition, Dinamina has an audience share of 0.73 percent.
Audience Share
2.65%
Ownership Type
State owned
Geographic Coverage
National
Content Type
Paid Content
Media Companies / Groups
ANCL
Ownership Structure
Silumina is managed by the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited, also known as Lake House, which is a state-owned institution as per the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon (Special Provisions) Act No. 28. It was initially established by D.R. Wijewardene and consisted of 7 newspapers. After his death in 1956, the editorial policies were overlooked by his son-in-law Esmond Wickremasinghe. In 1973, the government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike nationalised the company through the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon (Special Provisions) Act No.28. A. K. Premadasa was appointed its first Chairperson. At present, there are 99 shareholders which includes the Department of Public Trustee, 10 institutions and 88 individuals. These 88 individuals include several members who are related to the founders of ANCL, including the present Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe who owns 0.19 percent of shares. The highest number of shares is held by the Department of Public Trustee on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. The Department of Public Trustee comes within the ambit of the Ministry of Justice and Prison Reforms.
Voting Rights
Missing Data
Individual Owner
Group / Individual Owner
Ceylon Petroleum Corporation
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was established by Act. No. 28 of 1961 in parliament and remains Sri Lanka’s national oil and gas company.
Ceylon Shipping Corporation
The Ceylon Shipping Corporation Limited was established in 1971 under Act No. 11 of 1971. Although established in 1971, it became a fully state-owned company in 1992.
General Information
Founding Year
1930
Affiliated Interests Founder
Don Richard Wijewardene, also referred to as D.R. Wijewardene, established the Lake House newspapers and played a key role in Sri Lanka’s independence movement. In 1914 Wijewardena along with his brother acquired Dinamina, a Sinhala language daily and thereafter took over the English language daily, The Ceylonese and re-named it to ‘Ceylon Daily News’. Which was then followed by the publication of Thinakaran a Tamil language daily. In 1926 these newspapers were consolidated under Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL). This institution is presently owned by the state and publishes seven newspapers, namely, Daily News, Dinamina, Thinakaran, Resa, Sunday Observer, Silumina and Vaaramanjari. Wijewardene entered the political arena in 1913, after being elected the Secretary of the Ceylon National Association. His Brother in law Sir Francis Molamure was the first speaker of the State Council and his nephew J R Jayewardene was a former President of Sri Lanka. The following well-known personalities are related to Wijewardene:
Ranjit Wijewardene is D.R. Wijewardene’s son and the founder as well as the CEO of Wijeya Newspapers Limited.
Ruwan Wijewardene is D.R. Wijewardene’s grandson and the incumbent State Minister of Defence.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is also D.R. Wijewardene’s grandson. He is the incumbent Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and Leader of the UNP.
Shan Wickremesinghe, Ranil Wickremesinghe’s brother, is the incumbent Chairperson of Telshan Networks (Pvt) Limited (TNL), a media company.
Upali Wijewardene is D.R. Wijewardene’s nephew and also the founder of Upali Newspapers (Pvt) Limited.
Affiliated Interests Ceo
Krishantha Prasad Cooray, also referred to as Krishantha Cooray, is the current Chairperson of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL, also known as Lake House). He has previously held executive positions at Ceylinco Group, Richard Peiris Group and the Capital Maharaja Organisation Limited where he oversaw the news broadcasts by the company’s TV and radio stations. He reportedly played a key role in establishing the Rivira Media Corporation (Pvt) Limited under the Richard Peiris Group and served there as founding Director and CEO. The Nation and Rivira were launched under his direction. However, Rivira ceased its English publication, The Nation, in 2017.
Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief
Chaminda Wariyagoda
Contact
Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited
No. 35, D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha, Colombo 10
General: 011 2 429 429, 011 2 421 181, 011 2 331 181
Email: info@lakehouse.lk
Website: www.silumina.lk
Financial Information
Revenue (in Mill. $)
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Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
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Advertising (in % of total funding)
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Market Share
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Further Information
Meta Data
Information on the shareholders was gathered through the annual returns available at the Department of Registrar of Companies. While the Media Ownership Monitor research team reached out to the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited by formally requesting for the company’s information on 20 July 2018, the company did not respond to the aforementioned request. Readership data was obtained from the Kantar Lanka Market Research Bureau (LMRB) for the year 2017.
