• Marked-to-market gains calculated based on investments as of 30 Sept.
• Almas Equities suggests higher equity allocation could have yielded significant returns

Sri Lanka’s Employee Provident Fund (EPF) has a marked-to-market gain of at least Rs. 60 billion from its investment in equities by the end of 2024, Almas Equities said.

According to research by Almas Equities, the marked-to-market gains of the equity portfolio of the EPF calculated as of 31 December 2024 stood at Rs. 60.04 billion based on the purchased cost as of 30 September 2024.

The purchased cost of equities as of 30 September 2024 stood at Rs. 88.6 billion while the market value of those equities as of 31 December 2024 stood at Rs. 148.7 billion.

As revealed at the Committee of Public Finance earlier this month, the EPF’s asset value will surpass Rs. 4 trillion by the end of 2024, indicating that the fund has invested about 2.2% of its assets in equities.

EPF saw the highest equity gain from its investment in ACL Cable PLC, about 800%, while LOLC and PGP Glass Ceylon PLC took second and third place, respectively, with 550% and 475% net gains.

Meanwhile, the EPF saw net losses of 52% from Tal Lanka Hotels PLC and 28% from Ceylon Hotels Corporation PLC.

Commenting on the analysis on X platform, Almas Group Chairperson Imtiaz Burhadeen said that if EPF had invested at least 20% of its assets in equities it would have made approximately Rs. 600 billion gains in the current market.

“We must also see how much is lost by not investing wisely and having a sizable portfolio,” he said.

He added that the EPF has made capital gains based on the data from bad investments done in the past.

Furthermore, he noted that In general, investing in the stock market for the long term will give a good return though there will be short-term fluctuations.