The State Trading Organization Plc ( MSE:ST

or STO is a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

with 81.63% of the shares owned by the Maldivian

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

with the rest 18.37% being held by the public after the IPO a couple of years ago. The company is controlled by a

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

headed by a

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

Outlets

STO People's Choice - On 15 March 2022, Vice President of Maldives, Hon. Faisal Naseem opened the newly refurbished STO People's Choice. The store is for home appliances, ACs, TVs and Supermart products. The store includes a pharmacy as well. In addition, to support SMEs, the company has leased space from the store to third-party vendors which include stationaries, toys, mobile phones and gadgets. STO Staple Foods - Since the establishment of STO in the mid 60s, it has been selling staple foods. STO Medical Services - STO Medicals Services sells drugs. Located at the OPD wing of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital. STO Medical Services holds the main stores of pharmaceuticals and is responsible to supply the Pharmacy and a number of other Corporate Clients which include the IGMH, the Regional Hospitals and a number of other Chemists and Pharmacists in Malé and other islands. STO Construction Solutions - Established in 1988, deals with

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

materials such as

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

, 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. STO Fuel and Lubricants - Operated from Funadhoo island and Dhoonidhoo island (

Malé Atoll Kaafu Atoll is the code name given to an administrative division in the Republic of Maldives which consists of the geographical atolls of Kaashidhoo Island, Gaafaru, North Malé Atoll and South Malé Atoll. As the two Malé Atolls are the main i ...

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

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

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. STO Agricenter - STO Agricenter was opened on 12 April 2021 with the aim of providing agricultural products produced by Maldivian farmers to retail and wholesale customers. STO Thoddoo Agricenter - Thoddoo Agricenter was opened on 20.10.2021. AA. Thoddoo consists of many farmers who mass-produce agricultural products. Hence, the farmers of Thoddoo can remain on their own island and be able to sell their produce directly at the Agricenter. The main objective is to market the product to the nearby resorts and supply them to Malé and nearby islands to sell. STO Makita Showroom -STO Makita Showroom was opened on 27 July 2022 at Sea Tracs Building. The one-stop showroom specifically opened for Makita Tools.

Services

STO specializes in both

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

and

wholesale Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

businesses involving selling goods directly to end customers for personal use and providing products to wholesale customers. The company has its branches in the following islands (locations) nationwide: *

Eydhafushi Eydhafushi ( Dhivehi: އޭދަފުށި) is the capital of Baa Atoll, which is an administrative division of the Maldives. Located in the central part of the country, Eydhafushi serves as the political, economic, and administrative hub of the regi ...

(STO 132 No. Fihaara) * Fonadhoo (STO 134 No. Fihaara) *

Fuvahmulah Fuvahmulah (Dhivehi language, Dhivehi: ފުވައްމުލައް) is an island (atoll) in the Maldives. It is under Maldives' administrative division of Gnaviyani Atoll, Gnaviyani (or Nyaviyani) Atoll. The island is the second southernmost admini ...

(STO 136 No. Fihaara) *

Gan The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to: Places * Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden" China * Gan River (Jiangxi) * Gan River (Inner Mongolia), * Gan County, in Jiangxi province * Gansu, abbreviated '' ...

(STO 141 No. Theyo Fihaara) * Hithadhoo (STO 137 No Fihaara) * Hoarafushi (STO 122 No. Fihaara) *

Maradhoo-Feydhoo Maradhoo-Feydhoo (Dhivehi language, Dhivehi: މަރަދޫފޭދޫ) is a district of Addu City, in the Maldives. The district borders the district of Maradhoo (Addu), Maradhoo to the north, as they both share the same natural island, and the dis ...

(STO 159 No. Fihaara) * Thinadhoo (STO 138 No. Fihaara) * Hulhumeedhoo (STO 164 No. Fihaara) * Kulhudhuffushi (STO 165 No. Fihaara) STO established its

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...

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

Subsidiaries

Allied Insurance

Allied Insurance Company of the Maldives (doing business as Allied Insurance) was established in 1985 as a joint venture company between the State Trading Organization and Commercial Union Assurance Company of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. 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 (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 Pvt Ltd

Maldive Gas, which is in the natural gas distribution market, delivers cooking gas to over 40,000 customers throughout the Maldives.It supplies

Liquefied Petroleum Gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...

(LPG) ranging from 2 kg to 45 kg cylinders with appliances for domestic and industrial purposes

Maldives Structural Products (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.

Raysut Maldives Cement

With the rapid development of tourism in the country, the Government of Maldives embarked on the development of

harbours A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

airports An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface such ...

, housing and other infrastructure. The tourism industry continued to grow with local and foreign investment and large projects began to get off the ground. All these projects escalated the price of cement in the Maldives and led to the partnership between STO and Marine Cement Limited (a Swiss-based cement company owned by Lafarge of France and Blue Circle of United Kingdom) to form Maldives Island Marine Cement Pvt Ltd. The company was renamed Lafarge Maldives Cement Pvt Ltd in 2011, and with the 2020 acquisition of all foreign-held shares of the company by Raysut Cement Company of Oman, it became Raysut Maldives Cement.

Maldives State Shipping (MSS)

Maldives State Shipping was established in 2020 to serve all the traders in the Maldives for their imports and exports through MSS's liner services. The company also creates employment opportunities for seafaring Maldivians. MSS is a wholly-owned subsidiary of STO.

Former Subsidiaries

Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Ltd (MIFCO)

MIFCO was incorporated under the umbrella of the STO group, until 2023 where it was converted to a 100%

state owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies of the Maldives