ThxPORTAL - My OnlinE InvestmenT ProgresS

Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) unitholders will receive a dividend of 7.50 sen per unit for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2010 compared with 7.30 sen declared last year.

The 7.04 million unitholders who currently hold more than 82.72 billion ASB units will also receive a bonus of 1.25 sen, similar to last year.

Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) Chairman Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the income distribution portion involved a total payout of RM5.93 billion while the bonus portion RM603.34 million.

Up to last Friday, he said, the scheme registered a gross income of RM6.58 billion.

"Dividend income from investee companies contributed RM3.27 billion or 50 per cent of the gross income, and profit from the sale of shares contributed RM2.78 billion or 42 per cent," he told a press conference here today.

He said the remaining eight per cent or RM0.53 billion was derived from investment in short-term instruments and other investments.

PNB President and Chief Executive Officer Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said this year''s earnings were supported by the increase in dividend contributions from subsidiary companies particularly Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) which amounted to 55 sen compared with eight sen a year earlier.

Dividend contribution from Sime Darby Bhd, meanwhile, dropped to 10 sen from 20.3 sen in 2009.

"In terms of income, last year's dividend was less than 50 per cent but this year, we managed to achieve 50 per cent resulting from dividend returns from our investee companies.

"This year's performance was quite fortunate. Even though Sime Darby paid less than last year, we received a higher dividend from Maybank which had been gradually recovering," he said.

Asked on Sime Darby's performance, Hamad said: "We are always hoping that the performance of our companies will improve.

"If we look at Sime Darby's performance, they have projected the situation to get better in the future and we hope this will can help us get better returns." -- BERNAMA