The State Trading Organization (MSE

Maldives Stock Exchange

The Maldives Stock Exchange , is a private sector Stock Exchange located at the 6th floor of M.Gold Hill in Malé, Maldives....

:STOhttp://www.maldivesstockexchange.com.mv/plc.php?cid=STO) or STO is a public

Public

In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...

 company with 92.29% of the shares owned by the Maldivian

Maldives

The Maldives , , officially Republic of Maldives , also referred to as the Maldive Islands, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls oriented north-south off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and...

 Government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 with the rest 7.71% being held by the public after the IPO a couple of years ago. It is operated directly under the Ministry of Trade and Industries, and is controlled by a board of directors

Board of directors

A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...

 headed by a Chairman.

History

When STO took root in 1964, the outlook for the Maldives was grim to say the least. The population was a mere 100,000. The only communication with the outside world was the Morse code and the ham radio. The only airstrip was one put together by the British Royal Air force and inter-atoll transport was limited to trips on the traditional sailing dhoni.

The only resource available was fish, and consumers were at the mercy of importers. Even the most basic food items were expensive. The country had no banks development was slow with no local fund for major investments and no commercial industry.

The need for a central purchasing organization to raise living standards and encourage development was acute. The government responded with the establishment of the Athireegemaafannu Trading Agency (ATA) - the beginning of STO, and the catalyst of change in the Maldives.

ATA financed the purchase and import of essential items in bulk; sold them to the public at low mark-up prices and also purchased supplies for the government.

With proven success in contributing to national development, ATA expanded into the State Trading Organization (STO). The STO undertook all trading and commercial activity on behalf of the Maldivian government.

The nation was growing, and so were the nation's demands. Now the need was not just for staples like rice sugar and flow, but also for quality merchandise, improved construction material and for state-of-the-art consumer goods.

The winds of change were blowing across the nation and STO responded by looking beyond its traditional role of state trader. It began to take up alternative enterprises to earn foreign exchange and broaden the nation's revenue sources.

Outlets

STO People's Choice Electronics - Established in 1993, STO Electronics deals with branded consumer electronics including home theater

Home cinema

Home cinema, also commonly called home theater, are home entertainment set-ups that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood with the help of video and audio equipment in a private home....

 systems, digital photography

Digital photography

Digital photography is a form of photography that uses an array of light sensitive sensors to capture the image focused by the lens, as opposed to an exposure on light sensitive film...

 and video equipments, stereo

Stereophonic sound

The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...

 and hi-fi systems and microsystems.

STO People's Choice Home Improvement - Established in May 1995, deals with home appliances, paints, power tools, furniture and cooling systems.

People's Choice Supermart - Established in 1991, Supermart is reputed to be the largest supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

 in the country. It also introduced supermarkets to the nation which provided an inexpensive mode of shopping to the public. Deals with merchandise ranging from toiletries, stationeries, canned and frozen foods, household items and consumer goods.

Staple Foods - Since the establishment of STO in the mid 60s, it has been selling staple foods.

People's Choice Construction - Established in 1988, deals with construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

 materials such as cement, river sand, deformed bars, plywood, timber, and roofing materials. It also functions as the main distributor of locally packed international standard cement and roofing sheets with the aide of its subsidiaries Maldives Marine Cement and Maldives Structural Products.

People's Choce Pharmacy - Provides pharmaceutical drugs and other medical items to public consumers and corporate clients such as Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital

Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital

The Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital , is a state owned hospital, and one of the two hospitals in Malé, Republic of Maldives. The hospital is located at the west end of Malé. The hospital is a gift from the Indian Government and is dedicated to Indira Gandhi. IGMH replaced the previous sole...

, local pharmaceutical companies and the regional hospitals.

STO Peoples Choice Fuel and Lubricants - Operated from Funadhoo

Funadhoo

Funadhoo as a place name may refer to:* Funadhoo * Funadhoo * Funadhoo...

 island and Dhoonidhoo island (Malé Atoll

Malé Atoll

Malé Atoll is a natural atoll of the Maldives. This atoll consists of two separate atolls: North Malé Atoll and South Malé Atoll.Together with Kaashidhoo Island and Gaafaru, Malé Atoll forms the administrative division known as Kaafu Atoll....

) deals with the supply and sale of a wide variety of petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

 products. In January 2001, Fuel and Lubricants diversified as a joint venture between Fuel Supplies Maldives Pvt. Ltd. (FSM) Plc. and Vara Maldives. Pvt. Ltd. to further extend their distribution network to the entire Maldives.

Services

STO specializes in both retail

Retail

Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...

 and wholesale

Wholesale

Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...

 businesses involving selling goods directly to end customers for personal use and providing quality products to wholesale customers at competitive prices.

The company has its branches in the following islands (locations) nationwide:

• Eydhafushi
  Eydhafushi (Baa Atoll)
  Eydhafushi is the capital of Baa Atoll....
  
   (STO 132 No. Fihaara)
• Fonadhoo
  Fonadhoo (Laamu Atoll)
  Fonadhoo is the capital island in Laamu atoll of the Maldives....
  
   (STO 134 No. Fihaara)
• Fuvammulah (STO 136 No. Fihaara)
• Gan
  Gan (Seenu Atoll)
  Gan is the southernmost island of Addu Atoll, as well as the southernmost island of the Maldives. It is relatively large by Maldive standards....
  
   (STO 141 No. Theyo Fihaara)
• Hithadhoo
  Hithadhoo (Seenu Atoll)
  Hithaadhoo is a district of Addu City, in the Maldives. Hithadhoo is the main administrative district of Addu City, with many of the administrative buildings in this district. The town is situated on the island of the same name, the westernmost of Seenu...
  
   (STO 137 No Fihaara)
• Hoarafushi
  Hoarafushi (Haa Alif Atoll)
  Hoarafushi is one of the inhabited islands of Haa Alif Atoll and geographically part of the Ihavandhippolhu , Atoll in the Maldives. It is named after the Great Frigatebird, known as the hoara bird in the Maldives, which used to be seen there.It is one of the northernmost islands of the Maldives...
  
   (STO 122 No. Fihaara)
• Maradhoo-Feydhoo
  Maradhoo-Feydhoo (Seenu Atoll)
  Maradhoo-Feydhoo is a district of Addu City, in the Maldives. The district borders the district of Maradhoo as they both share the same natural island...
  
   (STO 159 No. Fihaara)
• Thinadhoo
  Thinadhoo (Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll)
  Thinadhoo is the capital of Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll and the proposed capital for the Mathi-Dhekunu Province of the Maldives. It has its own dialect of Dhivehi which is considerably different from northern and mid-Maldivian speech...
  
   (STO 138 No. Fihaara)
• Hulhumeedhoo
  Hulhumeedhoo (Seenu Atoll)
  Hulhumeedhoo is one of the inhabited islands of the Seenu Atoll, Maldives. Hulhumeedhoo is the only inahbited island in Eastern side of Addu Atoll. Although the island is geographically a single island, it is administratively divided into two. That is Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo...
  
   (STO 164 No. Fihaara)
• Kulhudhuffushi (STO 165 No. Fihaara)

STO established its credit

Credit (finance)

Credit is the trust which allows one party to provide resources to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately , but instead arranges either to repay or return those resources at a later date. The resources provided may be financial Credit is the trust...

 scheme service in 1995 with the purpose of enabling all government employees to purchase goods from STO on installment basis.

Subsidiaries

Allied Insurance Company Maldives Pte Ltd - Allied Insurance Company of the Maldives was established in 1985 as a joint venture Company between State Trading Organization and Commercial Union Assurance Company of the United Kingdom. In its early years, the State Trading Organization bought back the shares and the company continued operations with local ownership and management. Allied has had tremendous growth over the past 20 years, both in terms of the volume of business and profitability.

Fuel Supplies Maldives Pvt Ltd (FSM) - Fuel Supplies Maldives Pvt Ltd was established on January 1, 2001. FSM was founded as part of the scheme of STO to choose private companies to form partnerships in specialized lines of services.

Maldive Gas Pte Ltd - Maldive Gas, natural gas distribution market, delivering cooking gas to over 40,000 customers throughout the Maldives.

Maldives Structural Products Pvt. Ltd (MSP) - Maldives Structural Products Pvt. Ltd (MSP) is a joint venture company of State Trading Organization PLC & Rainbow Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., formed with the main objective of producing steel roofing products and related accessories and supply to the Maldives market.

Maldives National Oil Company Ltd. (MNOC) - The Maldives National Oil Company Ltd. (MNOC) was incorporated by the Government of the Republic of Maldives to complement the Government's effort to diversify the national economy and thereby generate employment and foreign income through oil and gas exploration and production in the territory of the Maldives and abroad.

Lafarge Maldives Cement Pvt Ltd - With the rapid development of the tourism industry in the Maldives, the government of the republic of Maldives embarked on its long term development of harbours, airports, housing and other infrastructure. The tourism industry continued to grow and many large resort projects with joint venture partnerships got off ground. All these development projects required large amounts of cement, resulting in an increased price of cement in the Maldives. This led to the introduction of Marine Cement Limited ( a Swiss based cement trading / shipping outfit owned by Lafarge of France and Blue Circle of United Kingdom), as a share holder to form a joint venture with the State Trading Organization Plc., registered under the Ministry of Trade and industries in the Maldives, in establishing Maldives Island Marine Cement Pvt. Ltd. From January 2002 with the takeover of Blue Circle by Lafarge of France.