Abamco Limited has declared a total payout of Rs 1.02 billion for the closed end funds under its management for the period ended December 31, 2004. Announcing half yearly financial results of the closed end funds managed by the company, Abamco Ltd Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Najam Ali said that the weighted average yield based on the prices as on Thursday (ie February 18, 2005) for the period July 1, 2004 till March 30, 2005 equates to 15.93 percent for an investor of the closed end funds of the company.

This yield is superior to the return currently available on all types of fixed income instruments and is indeed even higher than most equity investments, he added.

In addition to the closed end funds, the company for the open end funds showed an earning of Rs 125 million, excluding unrealised income that works out to be Rs 296.05 per unit for its balanced fund, Unit Trust of Pakistan (UTP). The net earnings exclusive of the unrealised gains for the other two funds viz. UTP-ISF and UTP-IF were recorded at Rs 31.03 million (earning per unit of Rs 18.72) and Rs 43.22 million (earnings per unit of Rs 15.21), respectively.

For Abamco Composite Fund (ACOF), the latest fund launched by the company, a cash payout of Rs 411.93 million was announced.

The cash dividend announced at the rate of 12.5 percent per certificate implies an annualised current yield of 18.64 percent for the fund that has been in operation approximately for the last 10 months only.

For BSJS Balanced Fund (BBF), the company paid an interim dividend of Rs 148.22 million at the rate of 12.5 percent per certificate which delivers an annualised current yield of 15.08 percent.

Similarly, the company announced payouts of Rs 71.66 million, Rs 131.25 million and Rs 253.68 million for their other three equity funds - Abamco Growth Fund (AGF), Abamco Stock Market Fund (ASMF) and Abamco Capital Fund (ACF). The payout at the rate of 26 percent, 15 percent and 12.5 percent announced by AGF, ASMF and ACF implies annualised yields of 12.39 percent, 15.08 percent and 14.55 percent, respectively.

The Abamco CEO said that the company has over Rs 17 billion of assets under its management and as such it is the largest asset management company in the private sector of the country. During July 1, 2004 to December 31, 2004 the net assets have appreciated by 11.52 percent, which depicts the confidence of the investors on the company and on its ability to provide them with superior return, he added.

Abamco Chairman Munawar Siddiqui and other office-bearers of the company were also present on the occasion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2005