ASB unitholders to get 7.65 sen dividend per unit

KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham Bumiputra (ASB) unitholders will receive a dividend of 7.65 sen per unit for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2011 compared with 7.5 sen last year.

The 7.3 million unitholders, who currently hold over 95.9 billion ASB units, will also receive a bonus of 1.15 sen.

Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the income distribution portion involved a total payout of RM7.04bil and the bonus portion RM628.29mil.

Up to last Thursday, he said, the scheme registered a gross income of RM7.19bil.

“Dividend income from investee companies contributed RM4.09bil, or 56.9%, of the gross income and profit from the sale of shares contributed RM2.25bil or 31.3%,” he told a media briefing here yesterday.

He said the remaining 11.8%, or RM0.85bil, was derived from investment in short-term instruments and other investments.

Ahmad Sarji said the income distribution and bonus would be automatically credited into the respective unitholder's account and unitholders could update their accounts beginning Jan 3 next year.

“All transactions for ASB will be suspended beginning Dec 21, 2011 until Jan 2, 2012 to facilitate the calculation of income distribution and bonus,” he said.

He said the ASB's performance during the year was satisfactory even in the last quarter of this year, with the stock market performance influenced by the US economic uncertainty and Europe's debt crisis.

Meanwhile, its president/chief executive officer Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said PNB would make sure it would continue to not only pay dividend every year but also to create growth for the future.

On the takeover of SP Setia Bhd, he said PNB was still awaiting approval from the Securities Commission (SC).

“We have submitted it to the SC and are now waiting for its approval,” he said.

On the progress of the Menara Warisan project, he said: “PNB has submitted the design order to the authorities and we will announce it when we get approval.” - Bernama