Aitken Spence PLC (Sinhala: එයිට්කින් ස්පෙන්ස්; Tamil: எய்ட்கின் ஸ்பென்ஸ்) is a Sri Lankan blue chip conglomerate[3] with operations in South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Pacific.

[4] Aitken Spence has been recognised by Forbes as one of the most successful publicly traded companies with annual sales under US$1 billion outside of United States, for three consecutive years.

[6] In 2017, 2018 and 2019, Aitken Spence was adjudged the top winner of the Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award presented by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

[11] Whilst the roots of Aitken Spence can be dated back to Wilson & Archer Partnership of the 1830s in the early British Colonial Ceylon, the company began to take its current form after the signing of a formal partnership agreement between Thomas Clark and Patrick Gordon Spence—Scottish merchants and shipping agents[12] in Galle—on 1 September 1868, wherein Clark Spence & Co. was established.

[13][14] Clark Spence & Co.'s trading segment at this stage included exports of natural vein graphite (plumbago), gems, hides, sappan wood, ebony, coffee, coconut oil, coir, arrack, and citronella oil to the United Kingdom, continental Europe, the United States and Australia; and imports of Burmese rice, and coal for steamship bunkers.

[17] The company moved into plantations sector as an agency house in the early 1900s and with the onset of the Great Depression, began to withdraw from its trading business.

In 2010, in continuing its partnership with Ceyline Group, Aitken Spence invested in CINEC, Sri Lanka's largest private higher education institution.

[27] A decade later, in 2006, Aitken Spence entered the Indian hospitality sector, having secured management contracts for five hotel properties in India.

[30] Currently, the company has operations in eight countries (Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Oman, Fiji and Myanmar), spanning several continents[31] with 13,000 employees.

The other members of the Group Management Committee are Rohan Fernando, Stasshani Jayawardena, Nilanthi Sivapragasam, Rohan Pandithakorralage, Nimmi Guneratne, Susith Jayawickrama, Dinesh Mendis, Prasanna Karunathilake, Leel Wickremarachchi, Nalin Jayasundera, Iqram Cuttilan, Janaka Gunawardena, Jerome Brohier, Vasantha Kudaliyanage, Calude Jayantha Fernando and Chaminda Hidurangala[36] Aitken Spence Hotels owns and operates 22 hotels and resorts across Sri Lanka, Maldives, Oman and India.

[43] Aitken Spence Group first ventured into hospitality sector in 1974, with the opening of Neptune Hotel—designed by Deshamanya Geoffrey Bawa—in Beruwala, Sri Lanka.

[61] The business model for the new hotel involves attracting long haul travelers to Sri Lanka through charter flight holiday packages facilitated by TUI.

Model is set on Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport & Sri Lanka's Southern Expressway providing the connectivity for tourists—disembarking from TUI's weekly 787 Dreamliner Charters—to reach the hotel.

[62][63] In May 2015, Aitken Spence Travels partnered with Alpitour Group and SriLankan Airlines to operate charters from Italy to attract 8000 tourists to this all-inclusive, 24-hour-service hotel on a Club Med model.

[69] Aitken Spence opened its School of Hospitality in November 2007 at Ahungalla, Sri Lanka with the assistance of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and Hilfswerk to bridge the skills gap in the tourism sector.

However, since the ending of the Sri Lankan civil war, the school serves to assist the development in the North and the East as well as other rural areas in the country.

[70] The school has so far provided training opportunities for marginalized youth from Uva, North Central, East and Northern provinces in food and beverage services.

When the initial bidding process of Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) stalled and was reactivated, Aitken Spence partnered with China Merchant Holdings International and was the sole bidder in support of the project.

[105][106] Aitken Spence is the first Sri Lankan company to venture into port efficiency improvement, training and container terminal management overseas with its operations in the African continent.

[109][110] In 2010, Aitken Spence renewed its alliance with Ceyline Group of Companies when it invested in Colombo International Nautical and Engineering College (CINEC).

[113] Located in Malabe, the CINEC Campus is Sri Lanka's largest private higher education institution and also has branches in Colombo, Trincomalee and Jaffna.

[80] Aitken Spence serves as survey and claim settling agents for Lloyd's of London since 1876, covering the commercial ports in Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives.

During the first quarter of 2018, the government decided to extend the purchasing of thermal power for three more years as the country had four seasons of back-to-back dry spells, which exhausted reservoirs and the crucial catchment areas.

[135] Aitken Spence has also sought to diversify its power portfolio with an increased presence in the clean and renewable energy domain in Sri Lanka.

Seen as a vital and much needed solution for the waste disposal crisis within Colombo city limits, the proposed project involves the construction of a 10MW waste-toenergy plant at Muthurajawela.

The Group currently manages 13 estates (with over 8800 hectares of cultivated land) in Sri Lanka, producing high, mid and low grown teas.

[146] Group has diversified its plantation operations into other areas such as palm oil processing, hydropower development, speciality tea manufacturing and eco-tourism.

[150] Currently, Aitken Spence operates two factories in Sri Lanka—in Matugama (opened in 1993 in support of the 200 garment factories initiative of the then Government of Sri Lanka)[13] and at Koggala Export Processing Zone (since 2008)[151]—that manufactures and exports clothing for clients such as The Gap, Inc., Columbia Sportswear, Kohl's and Sears in the US, and Marks & Spencer Work Wear, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, Boots and Marriot in Europe.

[152] In October 2014, Aitken Spence invested in Eco Corp Asia, a company holding the exclusive rights in Sri Lanka to market nanotechnology based liquid glass coating product of Nanopool GmbH.

[155] The operation formulates specialized surface protection systems and applications on different materials utilizing nanotechnology; while introducing diverse innovative solutions for industries.