Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), through its unit trust management company Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB), announced the distribution of Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) income of 5.75 sen per unit for the financial year ending 31 December 2024.
This amount consists of an income distribution of 5.5 sen and a bonus of 0.25 sen, making the total distribution of RM10.1 billion with this distribution benefiting more than 11.1 million unit holders.
PNB Group Chairman, Raja Tan Sri Arshad Raja Tun Uda said the ASB income distribution this time was the best in five years in line with PNB's asset diversification strategy and the strong performance of the public equity market.
ASNB's variable rate funds also performed well with annual returns ranging from 15 per cent to 33 per cent until November 2024.
He added that ASB continued to record strong performance with a competitive distribution rate, outperforming the Maybank 12-month Fixed Deposit benchmark which averaged 2.64%.
This reflected the strength of the country's economy with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growing by 5.3% in the third quarter of 2024.
Last year, ASNB announced a total income distribution of 5.25 sen per unit for ASB for the financial year ending 31 December 2023 with an income distribution of 4.25 sen per unit and a bonus of 1.00 sen per unit.
This year's dividend is also better than ASB's dividend for 2022, which involved an income distribution of 3.35 sen per unit, a bonus of 1.25 sen per unit and an additional bonus of 0.50 sen per unit for the first 30,000 units.
