ASM Unitholders Get 6.30 Sen Per Unit

Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) today announced an income distribution of 6.30 sen per unit for Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) for the financial year ended March 31, 2010.

Last year, the government-owned fund manager declared an income distribution of 6.25 sen per unit, which was the lowest since its introduction in 2000.

The highest dividend given by the wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) was 7.8 sen.

PNB chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the income distribution involved a total payout of RM654.06 million, an increase of 60.5 per cent from RM407.58 million paid in 2009.

The payment will benefit 552,000 unitholders who had subscribed to 11.2 billion ASM units as at March 19, 2010.

When announcing the income distribution for ASM here, Ahmad Sarji said the equity market and the domestic investment environment had shown market improvement compared with the situation a year earlier, in line with the global economic and financial market recovery throughout the ASM financial year.

"These factors, combined with the successful implementation of the RM67 billion government stimulus package and accomodative monetary policy, has helped Malaysia to record positive growth in its gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009," he said.

PNB president and group chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said the payout of 6.30 sen was still better compared to payouts from other instruments with a similar risk profile.

"We feel that this figure is good enough for our unitholders. If we were to look in total, our capacity is to pay out 7.40 sen per unit but we only paid 6.30 sen because we want to have more reserves to bring forward next year," he said, adding that PNB has about RM118 million ASM reserves for 2011.

"The performance of the fund still depends on the market performance, which we hope our stock market will be better in tandem with the positive GDP growth."

Hamad Kama Piah said most analysts had projected the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (FBM KLCI) to index to hover around 1,300 to 1,400 level this year.

"Foreign interest in the stock market is considered the lowest at present. Most probably the buying appetite will come back soon, then we can see better margin," he said.

Up until March 19, 2010, ASM had recorded a gross income of RM800.83 million. Profit from the sale of shares contributed RM429.83 million, or 53.7 per cent of the gross income.

Dividend income provided RM259.69 million or 32.4 per cent and the remaining income of RM111.31 million or 13.9 per cent was derived from investments in short-term instruments.

The income distribution will be reinvested in additional ASM units to be automatically credited into the unitholders' accounts on April 1, 2010.

ASM is a fixed priced equity-income fund aimed at providing unitholders with a long-term investment opportunity that generates regular and competitive returns through a diversified portfolio of investments.