KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 (Bernama) -- Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd todayannounced an income distribution of 6.25 sen per unit for Amanah Saham Malaysia(ASM) for the financial year ending March 31, 2009. Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said theincome distribution involved a total payout of RM407.58 million and wouldbenefit 402,513 unitholders who had subscribed to 7.21 billion ASM units. At a media briefing here, he said it has been a challenging year for the ASMfund due to the global investment environment which was severely affected by theworld's financial crisis and worsening economy.
PNB president and chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman saidwhile the income of 6.25 sen was the lowest for ASM since it was launched, itwas still better compared to payouts from other instruments. "We feel 6.25 sen is reasonable. We could have easily paid 7.29 sen but didnot in order to create reserves for next year," Hamad Kama Piah said.
"We are actually conserving cash for buying opportunities in the market. Oneof the things we should do is to look at stocks that are now undervalued," hesaid, adding that they have around RM2.1 billion cash to buy stocks for ASM. Although he declined to elaborate, Hamad Kama Piah said they were looking tobuy more shares in certain counters.
Asked if there was a selldown by unitholders during the current difficulttimes, he said: "So far, so good. People still believe they can get good returnsfrom us". For the financial year period, ASM recorded a gross income of RM440.73million with dividend income from investments made throughout the yearcontributing 49.76 percent or RM219.33 million of the gross income. Profit from the sale of shares contributed 31.28 percent or RM137.84 millionwhile the remaining income of RM83.56 million or 18.96 percent was derived fromshort-term instrument investments.
The income distribution will be reinvested in additional ASM units to beautomatically credited into the unitholders' accounts on April 1, 2009. Launched in 2000, ASM is a fixed priced equity-income fund aimed atproviding unitholders with a long-term investment opportunity that generatesregular and competitive returns through a diversified portfolio of investments.
-- BERNAMA
No comments:
Post a Comment