KUCHING: The Sarawak state’s flagship fund, Amanah Saham Sarawak (ASSAR) has successfully maintained satisfactory performance with an announced interim dividend distribution of 3.0 sen per unit for its current Financial Year ending June 30, 2024.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said that the third distribution following the restructuring of ASSAR involved a total payment of RM14.23 million to 57,653 investors, calculated based on unit holdings as of December 31, 2024.
“This means there is an excess income of RM13.52 million available as reserves to support the income of the ASSAR Fund for the subsequent period.
“I am immensely proud that ASSAR continues to deliver competitive dividend yields, with its equity portfolio maintaining a crucial role in driving the fund’s performance,” he said.
He said this when announcing the ASSAR interim dividend distribution at Hikmah Exchange Event Centre here on Friday.
Alongside with the competitive dividend distribution, Abang Johari said that ASSAR is a safe and low-risk investment instrument, featuring a minimum guaranteed price mechanism of RM1.00 per unit, which has been a key feature of ASSAR since 1998.
“This minimum guaranteed price mechanism will continue to play a role in mitigating the impact of economic downturns and significant stock market declines on ASSAR investors’ capital.
“This is because this feature allows ASSAR units to be redeemed at the minimum price of RM1.00 per unit throughout the guarantee period, regardless of economic or stock market conditions, thus protecting ASSAR investors from incurring significant capital losses.
“This aligns with the socio-economic objectives of ASSAR’s establishment as a low-risk and safe long-term savings scheme,” said Abang Johari.
Abang Johari also expressed his confident that ASSAR’s management will do their utmost to navigate upcoming challenges, and he also believed the management will continue the successes achieved by building a truly resilient portfolio through optimising a combination of different asset classes.
ASSAR distributed 2.5 sen interim and 3.5 sen final dividends in January and July last year in respect of Financial Year ended June 30, 2024.
This interim dividend distribution involves a total payment of RM14.23 million to all registered ASSAR unitholders, to be paid based on their outstanding unitholding as at December 31, 2024.
ASSAR also has achieved remarkable growth, with its Net Asset Value (NAV) consistently increasing to nearly RM1.14 as of December 31, 2024, a 4.9 per cent growth compared to the previous year.
Moreover, the interim dividend of 3.0 sen or equivalent to a dividend yield of 2.71 per cent outperform the pro-rated benchmark return of 2.25 per cent based on Maybank 12-Month Fixed Deposit plus 1 per cent, for the same period.
