KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), today announced a 6.1 sen dividend for a unit of the Amanah Saham 1Malaysia (AS1M) for the year ending Sept 2016.
The dividend is 0.30 sen lower than the 6.40 sen declared last year, PNB chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar said when announcing the dividend.
He said the rate for income distribution is reasonable, given the stock market downturn and is also competitive against other investment instruments of similar features and risk profile.
Wahid said the income distribution this year involved a pay out of RM700.63 million, based on the average minimum equity held for the AS1M’s financial year.
"The payment is expected to benefit more than 393,000 unitholders who subscribe to 11.486 billion AS1M units," he said.
He added that the income distribution will be credited to the unitholders' accounts next week. For investors who participated in the AS1M through the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the income will be credited directly into their EPF accounts through the Members' Investment Scheme.
"Up to Sept 23, 2016, AS1M had a gross income of RM777.63 million. Profit from the sale of shares contributed RM344.87 million, or 44.4 per cent of gross income.
"Dividend income from investee companies contributed RM321.27 million or 41.3 per cent, and the remaining RM111.49 million or 14.3 per cent was from short-term instruments and other income," he added.
Also present at the ceremony was PNB president and group chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman.