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KUALA LUMPUR: Permodalan Nasional Bhd’s (PNB) will continue to focus on long-term investment strategy and will not be distracted by short-term volatility, said group chairman Tan Sri Dr Zeti Aziz (pix).
She said the strategy would be based on GNP’s assessment of the bottom line, while tactfully navigating the short- and medium-term challenges to generate sustainable returns for its shareholders.
“This is important, because we need to focus on long-term (strategies) and generate sustainable returns over time, not doing well in a particular year, and then doing poorly in another year,” he said.
Zeti said this during a virtual press conference after announcing Amanah Saham Bumiputera’s (ASB) income distribution of 4.25 sen for the financial year ending December 2020 today.
The 4.25 sen income distribution marked the lowest payment since the ASB’s inception in 1990, when the country’s largest fund manager announced a 14.0 sen return for that year.
Last year, ASB’s dividend was 5.5 sen per unit.
When asked if PNB could sustain a high dividend payment for ASB in the future, Zeti said that, like any other asset management institution and investment firm, the performance of ASB and other unit trust funds under PNB would be affected by global and national economic developments. as well as the impact on financial markets and other assets.
“With the improvements in the outlook for the world and national economies following the deployment of the vaccine, it is expected that most economies will allow a gradual reopening of world economies and world trade.
“These positive developments have also been reflected in improved performance and domestic equity indices and other asset markets,” he said.
However, he said that persistent problems and risks surrounding positive developments would result in structural change in the global economy after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There are still unresolved geopolitical issues that would result in continued volatility in financial markets in particular.
“Also, given that central banks around the world are expected to keep interest rates at record lows, that would result in an ultra-low yield environment, and this is the environment we are facing,” he added.
In her opening remarks, the former Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia said that 2020 has undoubtedly been a challenging year, as the Covid-19 pandemic claimed lives, severely affected economic activity, and brought significantly greater volatility to financial markets around the world.
“Despite this challenging environment, PNB has managed to continue to offer a competitive income distribution for its shareholders,” he said.
Noting that PNB remained cautiously optimistic about the future, Zeti said the fund manager will undertake further diversification to avoid excessive risk concentration and will continue to explore investments in new emerging industries while further strengthening its risk management capabilities in the future. future.
“We will do everything we can to navigate these challenging times, to ensure that we continue to deliver sustainable returns to our shareholders.
“We will continue the progress made in diversifying our investment portfolio so that we can build a truly ‘all-weather’ portfolio, with an optimal mix of asset classes and geographies,” he said. – Called
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