ASNB to make 6.05 sen payout

Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB), a wholly-owned unit of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), today announced an income
distribution
of 6.05 sen per unit for Sekim Amanah Nasional (ASN) for the financial
year ending December 31, 2011, an increase of 5 sen per unit compared
with the income distribution of six sen per unit declared last year.

PNB
chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the income distribution would
involve a payment of RM92.8 million that would benefit 1.2 million unit
holders who currently hold a total of 1.5 billion ASN units.

Ahmad
Sarji said the ASN income distribution was calculated based on the
units held on Dec 31, 2011, the last day of the ASN financial year and
would be automatically credited into the unit holders' accounts based on
the net asset value of ASN as at the last day of the year.

All
transactions for ASN at the ASNB headquarters, ASNB offices and agents
have been suspended beginning Dec 27, 2011 until 2 Jan, 2012 to
facilitate the calculation of income distribution.






Ahmad Sarji also said ASN's performance throughout the current
financial year was generally better despite the challenging scenario of
the stock market and global economy.

"The FBM KLCI registered a
decrease of 1.5 per cent to 1,496.15 points on Dec 23, 2011 from
1,518.91 points recorded on Dec 31, 2010," he said at a press conference
to announce ASN's income distribution for 2011.

Up to Dec 23, he
said ASN recorded a gross income of RM114.67 million and of that
amount, profit from the sale of shares contributed RM58.71 million or
51.2
per cent.

He said this was followed by dividend income
from investment in companies, which contributed RM43.33 million or 37.8
per cent while the balance of RM12.63 million or 11 per cent was derived
from other instruments.

Meanwhile, PNB President and Group Chief
Executive Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman said he hoped for a better
economic environment next year so that PNB could provide better returns
to its unit holders.

He said PNB would continue to select stocks
to strengthen its portfolio in order to enable it to provide good
returns to its unit holders.

Hamad said PNB's total assets under management currently stood at RM190 billion.

He also said PNB planned to open a branch in the United States next year.

"We
want to open another office overseas. We are looking for a suitable
location (in the US). We are targeting next year. We already have
offices in London, Tokyo and Singapore," he added.

He added Skim
Amanah Rakyat (SARA) 1Malaysia, which would benefit households with
incomes below RM3,000 per month, was expected to be launched in
mid-January. -- Bernama