KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 21): Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) has declared a distribution payout of seven sen a unit, comprising  an income distribution of 6.5 sen and bonus of 0.50 sen for Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018 (FY18). 

This is lower than the payout of 7.25 sen per unit (dividend of seven sen and bonus of 0.25 sen).

The total income distribution and bonus is estimated to be RM10.7 billion and would benefit more than 9.6 million unit holders.

ASB recorded a net income of RM8.99 billion for the first 11 months of FY18, primarily derived via dividends and capital gains from its investments. 

PNB chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Aziz said 2018 has been a challenging year for both the global and domestic financial markets, weighed down by further normalisation of the US monetary policy and the consequent fund outflows from emerging markets, as well as the growing concern arising from the international-traded tensions.  

“Amidst these challenges, ASB’s income distribution has remained competitive, outperforming its respective benchmarks, whilst moderated compared to the previous year,” Zeti said at a press briefing today.  

PNB also declared a 3.25 sen per unit dividend for the Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) for FY18, also lower than last year’s 3.65 sen per unit. This represents a dividend yield of 5.1%, based on the net asset value of the fund as at Dec 20.  

In total, ASN’s distribution payout is estimated to be RM59.7 million, benefitting more than 1.2 million unit holders with more than 1.8 billion units in the fund. As at Nov 30, ASN recorded a net income of RM64 million for the first 11 months of its financial year.  

Cumulatively, PNB’s total payout across all funds in FY18 is RM15.1 billion.

The group managed to sustain its financial performance in FY18, with assets under management increasing by 6.8% to RM295.2 billion, while the proforma net income of PNB and its unit trust funds was RM15.3 billion for the first 11 months of the year. 

For 2019, PNB expects GDP growth for the country to remain similar as 2018, ranging between 4.5% to 4.9%, amidst relatively low levels of inflation averaging around 1.5% to 2.0%.  

“This is not just a phenomenon experienced by Malaysia but it is a global phenomenon that we have seen. Even the international organisations in the recent IMF and World Bank meeting have described growth as having peaked in 2018. 

“So within this kind of environment, there are many other challenges, including the trade tension, the shift in macroeconomic policies in the major economies, and other geopolitical issues surrounding Brexit and the Middle East, and the volatile commodity prices. So all this cumulatively generates a challenging environment,” Zeti said.  

To address that, PNB plans to undertake a mid-term review of its strategic plan, concentrating on the areas of strategic asset allocation, enterprise risk management and organisational transformation, as well as to accelerate the diversification of its investment portfolio into higher-yielding assets. 

Zeti said part of its diversification plan is to enter into fixed income investments, having said that there are many instruments at its disposal to manage liquidity more effectively, considering PNB holds excessively high percentage of cash. Besides that, PNB is also looking into investing more in real estate, both the financial side, as well as the real estate sector itself. 

“So we are diversifying across the board, and the risk assessment framework has now become more robust and rigorous and we expect to bring it forward to a higher level, so that when we enter into these investments, we do it with our eyes wide open, knowing what the risk entails. We are also looking at investments that have recurring income, so that we have a flow. All this diversification process can lead to a better performance.”

When asked about the progress of developing the PNB 118 Tower, Zeti said the fund is committed to complete the building, which is now at its 42nd floor. She added that the tower is expected to be completed within three years.  

“We are now progressing to engage with potential tenants to the building. I believe about 50% is close to being finalised and we are engaging those who are also not in Malaysia, so that they are new, rather than taking away from existing tenants that are already in the country,” she said.