NIT beats market, gives 58% return in FY13

Asset management firm announces Rs3.75 per unit dividend.

KARACHI: National Investment Trust Limited (NITL), the only public sector asset management company in Pakistan, has announced that its flagship equity fund – NI(U)T – gave a total return of 58.4%, up six percentage points compared to the Karachi Stock Exchange’s return of 52.2% in fiscal year 2012-13.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, NIT’s Acting Managing Director Manzoor Ahmed said the company has made full use of the optimism that the KSE enjoyed in the recently ended fiscal year and was able to post a return of 58.4%.

He declared dividend at the rate of Rs3.75 per unit for unit holders of NI(U)T Fund with a total payout of Rs4.182 billion for the year ended June 30, 2013 compared to dividend of Rs3.50 per unit in the previous year.

NIT has Rs81 billion under management, of which more than half – Rs47.3 billion – has been invested in NI(U)T. It manages five funds – two equity and three fixed income funds.

In FY13, the NI(U)T Fund achieved capital gains of Rs4.448 billion against Rs1.439 billion in FY12, depicting a huge growth of 209%. Dividend income earned by the fund grew 16.6% and stood at Rs2.822 billion compared to Rs2.421 billion in FY12.

With a substantial increase in share prices on the bourse, many investors booked capital gains by redeeming their units, Ahmed said, adding the fund recorded unprecedented redemption of Rs17.2 billion during the year.

Disclosing the results of State Enterprise Fund (NIT-SEF), he said NIT has declared bonus at the rate of 12.92% on the face value of Rs50 for the unit holders of NIT-SEF.

In FY13, capital gains for NIT-SEF increased 177% and stood at Rs4.589 billion against capital gains of Rs1.658 billion in FY12. The fund earned Rs1.134 billion in dividend income compared to Rs1.259 billion last year.

Ahmed revealed that the company followed government directives to gradually repay the loans obtained for NIT-SEF and returned Rs13.7 billion to the financiers until the end of June. Total loans were Rs17.2 billion.

As a result of redemption of units to repay the financiers, NIT-SEF recorded negative income. Despite that, the fund’s net income stood at Rs958 million in FY13, translating into earning per unit of Rs4.67 against Rs1.201 billion with earning per unit of Rs4.27 in FY12, showing 9% growth in earning per unit.

Discussing the results of Equity Market Opportunity Fund, Ahmed said the NIT board has declared a bonus of Rs20 per unit for unit holders for the year ended June 30, 2013. The fund earned net income of Rs849 million (earning per unit Rs18.81) compared to Rs337 million (earning per unit Rs7.10), registering a growth of 152%.

The fund got Rs341 million in dividend income compared to Rs357 million in FY12 whereas capital gains stood at Rs782 million compared to Rs433 million in FY12, a growth of 80.7%.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2013.

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