Sri Lanka’s Wijeya Newspapers turns its delivery fleet into a new revenue stream

In 2015, Sri Lanka's circulation was much stronger, and revenue was higher as well. But after COVID and several social and economic disruptions, circulation dropped.

Wijeya Newspapers had to increase the prices of its newspapers. Although price adjustments helped retain about 85 percent of the peak COVID-era circulation revenue [around LKR 3 billion ($9.7 million)], advertising revenue suffered.

Ad revenues came down from LKR 5 billion ($16.2 million) down to roughly LKR 2 billion ($6.5 million).

The group publishes more than 13 titles, including three Sunday editions, daily and weekly papers in English, Sinhala, and Tamil, and Sri Lanka's first Braille newspaper for visually impaired students.

Transforming the business to stay sustainable

"Before COVID, our presses ran seven days a week, because our Sunday newspaper alone exceeded 400 pages with over 100 pages of classifieds. But after COVID and Sri Lanka's economic crisis, we couldn't even import paper or ink, and print volume fell dramatically," Janaka Rathnakumara, COO, Wijeya Newspapers, said during our Indian Printers Summit in Delhi.

To sustain the business and ease pressure on its balance sheet, the publisher decided to cover some of its overheads through new projects alongside daily newspaper operations.

"After COVID, we introduced new strategies to diversify our business. Our core challenge was business sustainability," he said.

One of the major initiatives by the publisher was the launch of Times School of Higher Education, which offered undergraduate and postgraduate programmes among other courses.

It installed a notebook manufacturing plant and shifted its staff to produce books from 9 am to 5 pm, then print newspapers at night. Within a year, its exercise book brand became the country's third largest in the market.

The publisher also strengthened its digital presence ­- websites, mobile apps, and social media.

"But digital revenue remains minimal and that's why sustaining print remains essential," he said.

Introduction of line-haul services to boost revenue

One of the major initiatives of Wijeya Newspapers was the launch of Reach Transport Service, a collaborative distribution model that leveraged its existing truck fleet to deliver e-commerce and FMCG goods.

The service has four goals:

• Convert the publisher's newspaper fleet into a commercial logistics network.
• Provide reliable transport and courier services across Sri Lanka.
• Use Wijeya Newspapers' brand trust and operational expertise to enter logistics and last-mile delivery.
• Operate 362 days a year.

"When print volumes dropped, I looked for ways to use the empty space in our vehicles. We started collaborating with other businesses to transport their products along with our newspapers," Rathnakumara said.

The publisher partnered with Toyota Lanka to transport spare parts and with Daraz (Sri Lanka's leading e-commerce platform, operated by Alibaba/Amazon) to handle their line-haul services.

Parcels are loaded onto the trucks first, followed by newspapers. Newspapers are delivered in the morning, and partner shipments are unloaded at their respective warehouses on the return trip.

Later, it also partnered with companies such as Plenty Foods (a biscuit manufacturer) and Singer Sri Lanka (consumer electronics retailer) to deliver their products.

"These are B2B line-haul operations. We don't offer door-to-door delivery yet, but we are planning to develop both first-mile and last-mile services," Rathnakumara said.

Maximise use of existing resources

What started as a crisis response has now become a major growth driver for the company.

Initially, the line-haul service showed no financial growth. By 2022, the business generated around LKR 50 million (approximately $162,000). In 2023-24, annual revenue reached LKR 75 million (around $244,000), and in 2024-25, it increased to LKR 80 million (approximately $260,000).

"We expanded step by step, starting with exclusive deliveries in March 2022, line-hauling in June 2022, back-hauling in August 2022, and then serving our own Sunday-heavy distribution system more efficiently," he said.

Sunday editions have roughly 400 pages each, taking up more volume, so Wijeya uses an extra fleet of trucks to deliver them. On weekdays, these extra trucks are used for exclusive deliveries.

Apart from that, vehicles used to transport staff are also used for city tours, airport pickups, and drops.

"Previously, transportation was a cost centre. Now, through Reach, transportation generates around LKR 7.5 million ($24,400) monthly revenue," he added.

Today, over 90 percent of transport costs are absorbed by external business. Overheads have been reduced from LKR 300 million in 2022 to around LKR 205 million, saving roughly LKR 95 million ($309,500) per month through both Reach and the notebook manufacturing plant.

Plans to expand and boost logistics revenue

Wijeya is not stopping here. The company plans to increase fleet utilisation to 95 percent through route optimisation, up from the current 70 percent. It also aims to expand beyond the Western Province to Central, Northern, and Southern hubs in Sri Lanka.

Another focus area is pharma companies and SMEs, which contribute 45 percent of Sri Lanka's GDP.

"SMEs often lack adequate transport infrastructure, and Wijeya leverages its 1,500+ agency network nationwide to fill this gap," Rathnakumara said.

Revenue optimisation strategies include dynamic pricing based on weight and volume, SME subscription contracts, and monetising unused fleet capacity through truck-sharing or leasing.

The company is also planning a digital transformation, including:

• Reach mobile app for booking, tracking, and payments.
• AI integration with partner systems for B2B courier requests.
• Customer dashboards for tracking, invoicing, and proof of delivery.

"We identified our resources and then explored how to use them. This turned our newspaper transport from a cost centre into a revenue-generating logistics system," he said.

Aultrin Vijay

[email protected]