MAXIS - My First e-Dividend Notification

I was pleasantly surprised to read an email message on my phone from Standard Chartered Bank advising me that my 8 sen per share Maxis dividend has been sent to my bank account on 30 Dec 2010. It went on to say "The crediting monies to your account will be subject to final clearance by the Clearing House and the Beneficiary Bank. In the event the above transaction to your account is not successful, a cheque for the same amount will be issued and sent to you at your address as per the Record of Depositor. Please retain the tax voucher.......Should you not received the payment please contact your Registrar accordingly".

Well, apart from being a cause for celebration for an end of year extra pocket money, I am very happy that they have placed this system of notification so that we would not miss checking our bank account. Promptly I checked my account through internet banking and noticed that it had not yet been credited, I expect it to be shown on my account by 5 Jan 2011. No longer do I dread not receiving any dividend cheque and having to pay for a missing cheque through no fault of mine. I also had a bad experience with a Tricor staff (share registrar)  when I complained to her that my cheque had not arrived for nearly three weeks after the date of payment. She had asked me to pay RM10 for a new one! What cheek I thought.

This is the Dividend no 6 and including this latest one, Maxis has paid out 28 sen since it was relisted  on September 2009. My calculation has shown that this is a much higher return than the bank  and as good as  PNB's unit trusts. While the share price has been kept relatively low, the company is making good its promise to give at least 50% of its profit as dividend. I was mulling over buying Bursa stock as it is now at its 12-month low, but I am thinking hard about injecting more investment into Maxis for regular high return like this at least for the next two years. I think this is a good investment for me ( I am not soliciting for anyone to buy the stock, CAVEAT EMPTOR!).

I am hoping my other Telco, AXIATA would announce a dividend soon though I am not really complaining as the stock price had uptrended more than 100% from the time I bought it.

So thank you Mr Ananda Krishnan for sharing your massive wealth with us small-time investors. And thank you policy makers for e-dividend  that makes life much easier for busy investors. E-dividend will be compulsory by April 2011.

In the meantime, I am sure we will all continue to invest to drive our economy and financial market.