The Short Version
The claim overstates what the available evidence supports. While individual companies like Ceylon Tobacco (89% payout) and Lion Brewery (35% payout) clearly differ in dividend practices, this does not establish systematic "distinct strategies" across the beverage and tobacco sectors. Academic studies on the Colombo Stock Exchange pool food, beverage, and tobacco firms together and report mixed results on how dividend metrics relate to market outcomes. The causal link between sector-level strategy differences and stock performance is not demonstrated.