Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd today announced an income distribution of 6.25 sen per unit for Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) for the financial year ending March 31, 2009.
Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the income distribution involved a total payout of RM407.58 million and would benefit 402,513 unit holders who had subscribed to 7.21 billion ASM units.
At a media briefing here, he said it has been a challenging year for the ASM fund due to the global investment environment which was severely affected by the world's financial crisis and worsening economy.
PNB president and chief executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said while the income of 6.25 sen was the lowest for ASM since it was launched, it was still better compared to payouts from other instruments.
"We feel 6.25 sen is reasonable. We could have easily paid 7.29 sen but did not in order to create reserves for next year," Hamad Kama Piah said.
"We are actually conserving cash for buying opportunities in the market.
One of the things we should do is to look at stocks that are now under-valued," he said, adding that they have around RM2.1 billion cash to buy stocks for ASM.
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