Governance

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Under the Hayleys Group umbrella, Hayleys Fabric PLC, together with its subsidiary South Asia Textiles Limited, is guided by a governance framework shaped by more than a century of Group experience. Strengthened by international best practice, our approach to governance is built on integrity, transparency and accountability, the foundation that makes responsible growth and lasting stakeholder confidence possible rather than simply declared.

Hayleys Fabric PLC has adopted the policies mandated under the Companies Act No. 7 of 2007, the Listing Rules of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Rules & Directives, the Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Act No. 15 of 1995, and Sri Lanka Financial Reporting Standards (LKASs & SLFRSs), including SLFRS S1 (General Disclosures) and S2 (Climate-Related Disclosures). These aren’t treated as a separate compliance checklist, they’re integrated directly into the Group’s governance framework, so meeting regulatory requirements and running good governance are effectively the same exercise rather than two competing priorities.

We’ve organised that framework into five areas: structure and oversight, stakeholder engagement, ESG risk management, ethics and culture, and transparent reporting. Each answers a different question a stakeholder might reasonably ask: who’s accountable for ESG decisions, how do we engage with the people affected by them, how do we measure and respond to risk, what standard of conduct do we hold ourselves to, and how do we prove any of it is actually true. Splitting governance into these five areas, rather than describing it as one general commitment to ‘good governance,’ is what makes each part of it something you can actually check.

Structure and Oversight

Strategic direction on ESG sits with our ESG Steering Committee, supported by cross-functional working groups that carry implementation and performance tracking into every operational area, backed by governance systems refined across more than a century of Hayleys Group experience.

Stakeholder Engagement

Rather than one blanket policy, we maintain distinct engagement approaches for six stakeholder groups, customers, suppliers, investors, employees, government and regulators, and communities, each with guidance suited to what actually matters to that relationship.

ESG Risk Management

ESG risk is tracked through defined metrics across environmental, social and governance categories, reviewed against an annual Double Materiality Assessment that weighs both our impact on society and the environment, and the financial risk each issue represents to the business.

Ethics and Culture

Our governance practices are aligned with the ICASL / SEC Code of Best Practice on Corporate Governance, backed by open channels for employees to raise concerns without fear, and a consistent standard of integrity expected from the factory floor to senior management.

Transparent and Accurate Reporting

We report against GRI Standards, SASB, the UN SDGs and the UN Global Compact, and were among the early adopters of SLFRS S1 and S2, Sri Lanka's sustainability-related financial disclosure standards, well ahead of when adoption became mandatory.

Governance is often the least visible of the three ESG pillars, there’s no single striking statistic the way there might be for solar capacity or water reclaim, but it’s the pillar that makes the other two credible. Every environmental target and social commitment described elsewhere on this site is backed by the oversight, risk management and reporting discipline described here. Explore each area above for the specific structures and standards that keep Hayleys Fabric’s governance accountable rather than aspirational.

If there’s a single test worth applying to any of the five areas below, it’s whether the claim can be checked against something outside the company, an independent standard, a published report, an external auditor, rather than resting on our word alone. That’s the standard we’ve tried to hold ourselves to throughout this section, and it’s the same standard we’d encourage any investor, brand partner or regulator to hold us to in return.