By Shikin Louis
KUCHING, Jan 17: Amanah Saham Sarawak Berhad (ASSB) today has announced an interim dividend distribution of 3.0 cent per unit for the Sarawak’s flagship fund Amanah Saham Sarawak (ASSAR) for its current financial year ending June 30, 2025.
This interim dividend distribution involves a total payment of RM14.23 million to 57,653 registered ASSAR unitholders, to be paid based on their outstanding unitholding as at December 31, 2024.
Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg stated that this marks the third distribution, following the interim dividend of 2.5 cent per unit announced in January and the final dividend of 3.5 cent per unit in July last year for the financial year ending June 30, 2024.
“I have been informed that even after these two distributions, the Net Asset Value (NAV) per unit of ASSAR has continued to record consistent growth, reaching nearly RM1.14 per unit as of Dec 31, 2024—a 4.9 per cent increase compared to RM1.09 in the first half of the previous financial year.
“Therefore, to balance the NAV increase and ASSAR’s sales price, ASSAR’s Management Company, with the approval of its Trustee, AmanahRaya Trustees Berhad, has agreed to make an interim dividend distribution for the current financial year,” Abang Johari revealed at the press conference to announce the ASSAR annual interim dividend at Hikmah Exchange Event Centre (HEEC) here today.
Meanwhile, in the first six months of the current financial year ending June 30, 2025, ASSAR generated a total gross income of RM22.62 million – a 45 per cent increase compared to RM15.59 million during the same period last year.
Notably, 49 per cent or RM10.95 million comes from gains on equity sales, 37 per cent (RM8.29 million) from interest income on fixed-income securities, and 15 per cent (RM3.38 million) from dividend income, interest income from money market instruments, and capital gains from the sale of fixed-income securities.
After deducting expenses of RM2.93 million, ASSAR’s net income currently stands at RM19.69 million.
“ASSAR’s policy only allows dividend distributions from realized income, including surplus income from the previous financial year.
“Taking into account the surplus income from the previous financial year, the total distributable income as of Dec 31, 2024, is RM27.75 million,” Abang Johari added.
Since RM14.23 million will be allocated for the interim dividend distribution for the first half of this year, this leaves a surplus income of RM13.52 million available as reserves to support ASSAR’s income for the upcoming period. – DayakDaily
