PNB declares 6.40 sen dividend for ASW 2020

KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), on Thursday announced a 6.40 sen dividend for a unit of the Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020) for the financial year ending Aug 31, 2015.

The dividend was 0.20 sen lower than the 6.60 sen declared last year, PNB chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said when announcing the dividend.

He said the rate for income distribution was reasonable given the stock market downturn and was also competitive against other investment instruments of similar features and risk profile.

Ahmad Sarji said the income distribution this year involved a payout of RM1.14 billion, based on the average minimum equity held for the ASW 2020 financial year.

"The payment is expected to benefit 883,422 unitholders who subscribed to 17 billion ASW units," he said.

He said the income distribution will be credited to the  unitholders' accounts on Sept 1.

For investors who participated in the ASW 2020 through the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the income will be credited directly into their EPF accounts through the Members' Investment Scheme.

"Up to Aug 25, 2015, ASW 2020 had gross income of RM1.39 billion. Profit from the sale of shares contributed RM709.04 million or 51% of gross income.

"Dividend income from investee companies contributed RM477.06 million or 34.3%, and the remaining RM203.74 million or 14.7% was from short-term instruments and other income," he added.

Also present at the ceremony was PNB president and group chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman.

"The performance of ASW 2020 was greatly affected by the performance of the domestic and global stock markets, which were severely challenging of late.
However, we are paying 6.4 sen a unit. Basically, the maximum distribution that we can actually make is 8.5 sen a unit.

"But we want to ensure that the portfolio we are managing will continue to record good performance from time to time...that's why we are paying 6.4 sen a unit," Hamad said.

He said the volatile market amid the economic challenges gave the fund an opportunity to accumulate investments.

"When the market is low, we have to aggressively look for investments that can give better yield in the future and there are some stocks which are good for investment now," he said, without divulging details on stock picking.