Search any household in Sri Lanka, from the highest to the most humble, and your chances of not finding at least one product manufactured or sold by Richard Pieris and Company PLC are slim indeed. From food products, medicines, general plastic and rubber household goods to foam mattresses and furniture, Sri Lanka’s consumers turn to us for an almost incredible variety of products. In the process, they have turned the name of our Company and the Arpico brand into household words across the country.

The beginning of this national institution was modest. The founding partners set themselves up in business as ‘commission agents, general import and export merchants and dealers in estate supplies’, and by doing so they were actually creating new dimensions for a Ceylonese mercantile community to emerge. The Company’s first business venture was a filling station. Turnover grew by more than 500 percent in the first seven years. In 1940 the business was converted into a limited-liability company with the founding partners as Directors. The issued share capital of Rs. 50,000 was substantial for its day, and the new company boasted 70 employees.

When the world went to war, rubber became a precious commodity to the Allies and tyres were reserved for military use. Seeing a business opportunity in the midst of those dark days, Richard Pieris and Company PLC launched a tyre-rebuilding business to meet the demand for these essential products. The Company’s first manufacturing venture met with abiding success; today, our Arpico and Arpidag brands remain leaders in the domestic rebuild tyre market.

Today, Richard Pieris and Company PLC can justifiably claim a place in the front rank of the country’s diversified business conglomerates. Our diversified manufacturing operations in rubber and plastic products combined with our investments in Sri Lanka’s largest retail super centres, and in management of the plantations, make our company shares a secure and dependable long-term investment.

We look forward to a bright future and enhanced shareholder returns by concentrating on our core business operations that we now dominate.