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| Sunday, 21 April 2002 |
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75 cents unit dividend from National Equity Fund National Equity Fund (NEF), managed by National Asset Management Limited (NAMAL), recently declared 75 cents per unit to its investors for the year 2001-2002. Together with the current dividend, the fund has declared accumulative dividend of Rs. 8.75 since inception in 1991. NEF was able to declare a higher dividend this year compared to the previous year's dividend of 55 cents per unit as the Fund's investments yielded better returns during this period. "The Fund was able to generate better returns from its share investments due to improvement in share prices and dividends. Interest income also improved from the fixed income investments of the fund as the fund was able to take advantage of the overall interest rates hike over 20 per cent per year recently," NAMAL said in a news release. "NEF distributed Rs. 0.40, and Rs. 0.55 in March 2000 and 2001 respectively. The current dividend of Rs. 0.75 is an improvement over its last two-year dividends" stated the release. "Although the stock market showed growth in the recent past, the economic environment both in the domestic front and globally remained adverse. With the changes in the domestic front and the ongoing peace initiatives of the new government, we expect the stock market to revive. We believe that economic revival with focused policies is paramount to create a sustainable growth in the private sector," S. Jeyavarman, CEO of NAMAL said. "The fund adopted a strategy of reducing the overall risks associated with the financial markets to both debt and equity, while concentrating on securities which offer good value. This would enable investors reap higher returns in the future", said P. Samarasekera, Fund Manger at NAMAL. The net asset value of the fund had improved 47.17 per cent between April 1, 2001 and March 27, 2002. During this period, the All Share Price Index has moved up by 45.75 per cent. NAMAL is owned by DFCC Bank, People's Bank, Employees Trust Fund Board and the Asian Development Bank. It also manages NAMAL Growth Fund, NAMAL Income Fund and NAMAL Optima Fund. |
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