KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB) has today announced a total income distribution payout of RM514.5 million for its Amanah Saham Bumiputera 2 (ASB 2) scheme.
This is equivalent to 4.30 sen per unit to 481,030 unitholders who currently own 11.96 billion units.
ASNB is Permodalan Nasional Bhd's (PNB) wholly-owned unit trust management company.
Besides that, another fixed price fund, Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM), will see a total income distribution payout of RM883.5 million.
This is equivalent to 4.00 sen per unit to 567,904 unitholders with 22.09 billion units.
In a statement today, PNB said as of March 22, ASB 2 recorded a net realised income of RM563.93 million, while ASM recorded RM1.03 billion.
The income distributions of ASB 2 and ASM translate to total returns of 4.30 per cent and 4.00 per cent respectively, both outperforming the benchmark of Malayan Banking Bhd's 12-month fixed deposit at 1.85 per cent by 245 basis points (bps) for ASB 2 and 215bps for ASM.
"Both funds derived their incomes from realised gains, dividends, as well as other income from domestic and international investments, generally driven by the reopening of economies in most countries as we move towards the endemic phase.
"The funds have also benefitted from the diversification strategy of their portfolios with the increasing allocation to international investment," PNB said.
For ASB 2, the international investment rose to 18.7 per cent compared to 15.7 per cent in the previous year, while for ASM, it rose to 20.5 per cent from 19.8 per cent in 2021.
"Always upholding the mandate to provide sustainable returns to its unit holders, PNB will continue to build a resilient portfolio that would withstand economic and market uncertainties," it said.
PNB said transactions at ASNB branches and agents had been temporarily suspended from March 23 to March 31 for ASB 2 and ASM to facilitate the computation of the income distribution.
Meanwhile, PNB said ASNB also introduced a new web page for the public to obtain relevant information on all its 16 funds.
"This new feature provides unitholders the convenience of up-to-date information to help them monitor and better manage their investments with ASNB," it added.