ASB unitholders to get 7.70 sen dividend, 1.0 sen bonus per unit
Published on: Friday, December 20, 2013
Kuala Lumpur: Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) unitholders will receive a dividend of 7.70 sen per unit for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2013 compared with 7.75 sen declared last year.The 8.26 million unit holders, who collectively hold 127.2 billion ASB units, will also receive a bonus of 1.00 sen per unit.Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) Chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said although the income distribution for this year was slightly lower compared with 2012, the dividend was still competitive amid the global economic uncertainty.ADVERTISEMENT "This rate is also not the lowest that PNB has declared. In 2009, the income distribution was 8.6 sen per unit."Infact, we can declare a dividend of 10.54 sen per unit for the current financial year, but we brought forward 2.71 sen per unit to help the fund's portfolio to become more competitive in future," he told reporters after announcing the income distribution here Thursday.Ahmad Sarji also said the income distribution portion involved a total payout of RM9.38 billion while the bonus portion accounted for RM706.88 million."ASB's gross income for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2013 is estimated at RM9.92 billion, up 15.1 per cent, against RM8.62 billion registered last year," he said.ADVERTISEMENT Dividend income from investee companies contributed RM4.41 billion or 44.5 per cent of gross income while the profit from the sale of shares contributed RM4.0 billion or 40.3 per cent.The balance of RM15.2 per cent or RM1.51 billion was derived from other incomes, he said.
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The income distribution and bonus will be automatically credited into the accounts of unit holders who will be able to update their accounts beginning January 2, 2014.All transactions for ASB at ASNB head office, ASNB branch offices and agents have been suspended beginning Dec 18, 2013 until Jan 1, 2014 to facilitate the calculation of income distribution and bonus.In a related development, Hamad Kama said PNB had yet to finalise a new structure for ASB2. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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"Its not that we don't want to tell you now but we want to make sure that we have a structure that is ultimately seen as a better package."It will take some time and, of course, once we have that ready, we hope the Prime Minister will be able to launch it," he said, adding that PNB was looking, among others, at an asset allocation structure. - Bernama