PNB net income up 18.2% in January-May

> Total assets under management rise 4%, both on annual basis

KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) net income for the first five months ended May 31, 2017 grew 18.2% year-on-year to RM6.7 billion while total assets under management (AUM) grew 4.1% year-on-year to RM265.6 billion.

Gross income for the same period grew 16.3% year-on-year to RM7.8 billion while return on assets rose to 6.2% from 5.5% a year ago.

Group chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar ( pix) said the performance reflects the improved economic and capital market performance both globally and locally.

“With the Malaysian economy expected to register higher growth, supported by stronger exports and firmer currency, we hope to continue to sustain this respectable growth performance for the rest of the year,” he told reporters at PNB’s results briefing yesterday.

The aggregate market value of PNB’s strategic companies increased by RM31 billion to date, representing a weighted growth of 18.1%. PNB’s six strategic companies are Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Sime Darby Bhd, MNRB Holdings Bhd, Chemical Company of Malaysia Bhd, SP Setia Bhd and UMW Holdings Bhd .

Its largest strategic investment company, Maybank, recently became the first Malaysian listed company to breach the RM100 billion market capitalisation mark. The bank’s market capitalisation as at June 21, 2017 stood at RM100.93 billion.

Abdul Wahid said these are some of the results of its STRIVE-15 Strategic Plan 2017-2022, which aims to deliver enhanced sustainable returns.

In terms of asset allocation, public equity made up the bulk at 68.9%. Fixed income instruments constituted a larger 4.8% of total assets compared with 3.4% a year ago.

Meanwhile, the cash portion declined to 19.7% from 20.7% a year ago.

President and group chief executive Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad said it aims to reduce the cash portion to 15% over the long term.

In terms of returns by asset class, public equities and private investments performed better in the first five months this year compared with a year ago. For public equities, returns improved to 8.3% from 7.1% last year while that for private investments improved to 4.1% from 3.2% last year.

However for property, returns fell to 4.4% from 5.2% a year ago, fixed income returns fell to 4.6% from 4.7% a year ago while cash and money market returns fell to 3.8% from 4.1% a year ago.

Abdul Rahman said cash and money market yield was affected by lower interest rate while its properties in the UK were affected by exchange rate translation.

On its plans for MIDF, Abdul Wahid said it is looking at various options to reposition MIDF, which is competing against Maybank’s investment bank. Meanwhile Prolintas, which completed the acquisition of SILK Highway, is on track for listing by the end of 2018 or early 2019.

As at the end of May, PNB’s whollyowned subsidiary Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) unit trust funds had over 13 million accounts with almost 217 billion units in circulation. PNB announced an income distribution of 6 sen per unit for its fixed price fund Amanah Saham Didik (ASD) and income distribution of 3.1 sen per unit for its variable price fund Amanah Saham Nasional 2 (ASN 2).

The income distribution for ASD involves a total payout of RM332.7 million for almost 300,000 account holders who hold 5.54 billion units. As at the end of May, ASD recorded a net income of RM275 million derived mostly via capital gains (RM201.85 million) and dividend payment (RM108.88 million).

The income distribution for ASN 2 involves a payout of RM45.8 million for more than 24,000 account holders who hold over 1.48 billion units. As at the end of May, ASN 2 recorded a net income of RM49 million, boosted by the rising market and strong stock selection.

The dividend of 3.1 sen for ASN 2 translates into a dividend yield of 5% contributing to a total return for ASN 2 of 11.9% year to date.