KUALA LUMPUR: The performance of Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) and all three Amanah Saham Gemilang (ASG) funds remained reasonably good and competitive in line with the current economic and investment climate.
Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said ASM had recorded a gross income of RM1.24 billion, with profit from the sale of shares contributing RM599.5 million or 48.5 per cent towards the gross income.
"From the period of April 11, 2014 until March 20, 2015, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI had decreased by 2.46 per cent from 1,849.21 points to 1,803.65 points.
"This was mainly due to the uncertainties in the economic environment caused by the fall of crude oil prices and depreciation of ringgit as well as the lingering Europe debt crisis," he said.
He added the dividend income from investment companies contributed RM459.9 million or 37.2 per cent, while the remaining income of RM177.6 million or 14.3 per cent was derived from investments in short term instruments.
The dividend payment would benefit 537,975 unit holders who currently hold 15.29 bilion units.
Meanwhile, the three funds under ASG are ASG-Pendidikan, ASG-Pendidikan and ASG-Persaraan.
The income distribution for ASG-Pendidikan, ASG-Kesihatan and ASG-Persaraan was also the same as last year, at 7.10 sen, 7.20 sen and 7.05 sen per unit, respectively.
For the ASG-Pendidikan, PNB had allotted a total of RM29.86 million payout which will benefit of 52,250 unit holders who subscribed to 420.5 million units of the fund.
“ASG-Pendidikan had also registered a gross income of RM21.5 million. From this amount, RM10.3 million or 48 per cent was profit from the sale of shares while RM7.4 million or 34.4 per cent was the dividend from investment in companies.
“ASG-Kesihatan had registered a gross income of RM22.01 million where dividend income from investment in companies contributed RM11.06 million or 50.2 per cent, while profit from the sale of shares contributed RM7.48 million or 34 per cent of the gross income.”
ASG-Persaraan registered a gross income of RM8.66 million, of which dividend income from investment in companies contributed RM3.4 million or 39.3 per cent, while income from the short-term investment instruments contributed RM2.2 million or 25.4 per cent.