PNB announces 7 sen dividend, two bonuses
KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) wholly-owned subsidiary, Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd, has declared an income distribution of seven sen per unit and a bonus of 0.25 sen per unit for its flagship fund, Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB), which will be paid out on Jan 2.
It also announced an additional bonus of one sen per unit, in line with Special PNB 40th Anniversary Bonus, for the first 10,000 ASB units, to be paid out on March 1.
The dividend is paid out from ASB’s net income, while the bonus and special anniversary bonus are paid out from PNB’s proprietary funds at its discretion.
PNB will then collectively pay out a total distribution of RM10.7 billion for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2017, which would benefit 9.1 million unit holders who own more than 145.6 billion ASB units.
“The majority of unit holders, numbering some 7.5 million with balances of up to 10,000 units, will get an effective return of 8.25 sen,” said PNB group chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar at the group’s results announcement here yesterday.
“This income distribution represents a premium of 4.85 percentage points over ASB’s benchmark, which is the average threemonths KLIBOR of 3.4 per cent as ASB recorded a net income of RM8.91 billion, as at Nov 30.”
He said this was on the back of Malaysia’s strong economic growth, which was on track for a full-year gross domestic product growth of 5.8 per cent and the successful implementation of PNB’s STRIVE-15 strategic plan.
PNB also announced an income distribution of 3.65 sen a unit for its first variable-price fund, Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN), which translates to a dividend yield of five per cent and contributing year-to-date total return of 15 per cent as at Thursday.
The total income distribution of RM69.4 million will benefit 1.2 million unit holders with 1.9 billion units in the fund.
The group’s total assets under management grew to RM276.5 billion by November, representing an increase of 4.6 per cent year-on-year.