ASD and ASM - 2013 Dividend Declarations

Yesterday 14 June PNB (Permodalan Nasional Berhad), declared dividend for its Unit Trust ASD (Amanah Saham Didik) for financial year ending 30 June 2013 at 6.80 sen per unit. This is 0.20 sen more than last financial year at 6.60. The increase is due to better unit trust performance with a recorded gross income of RM400.61 million

PNB Chairman Ahmad Sarji (Left) with President and CEO
Ahmad Kamah Piah  at the income distribution
Announcement  for ASD 2013

 A total of RM 307.36 million, an increase of 11 per cent compared with last year's RM 276.92 million, will be distributed to 340,947 ASD unit holders who collectively own 4.5 billion units of ASD.

This dividend rate appears to indicate that other fixed-price Unit Trusts in the PNB stable such as ASW,ASM and AS1M have declared or will issue a similar income distribution. The good news, however, should take into account the inflation rate that has the habit of increasing annually. 

For some investors the receipt of dividend is a time to take out their investment for planned purchase or spending while for others it is an opportunity for reinvestment to enjoy that compounding magic. 

Apparently this is the time also for keen Bumi investors to pick up more units as ASD units are becoming hard to get as more Bumiputra investors are becoming savvy in planning for their retirement nest egg. Having PNB unit trusts in investors' portfolio is a good strategy to derive regular income for saving purposes.

Last March ASM declared a dividend of 6.50 with 0.30 special income  making the distribution also at 6.80 sen per unit. The income distribution entailed a total payout of RM 913.85 million, an increase of 11.6% from RM 818.62 million paid out in 2012. There are 542,809 ASM unitholders who hold 13.44 billion units which are more than double that of ASD. A similar increase in income performance of the two unit trusts is also noted. ASM is obviously a bigger trust than ASD and is open to both Bumi and non-Bumi. ASM has been fully subscribed for a number of years now.

Am waiting for dividends declaration for AS1M to be credited on October 1 2013 and  I expect it to be also at 6.80 if not at 6.50 with a special income distribution of 0.30 sen per unit as well. Have not really scrutinised which stocks on Bursa AS1M is heavily invested in but I am sure they are profitable counters.

Sources: The Edge, Businesstimes and Staronline