Tabung Haji to pay higher dividends

KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) is well-placed to disburse
higher dividends this year to depositors following attractive returns
on investments coupled with proceeds from the sale of its stake in a
plantation company in Indonesia.

This is a reflection of the
national pilgrim fund board's efforts to ensure depositors' capital
remains protected while at the same time giving them "handsome"
returns, said Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Datuk
Ismee Ismail.

He told Bernama in an interview recently that LTH
would ensure that any investment made would bear fruit for them and
their depositors at the end of the day.

"Last year, we declared
six per cent dividend (and) hopefully, this year, we should be able to
maintain our performance. We are working very hard to ensure that
Tabung Haji depositors' money, the capital, is protected and for them
to get a decent return
for their savings," he said.

As of February 2012, there were 6.9 million depositors in Tabung Haji.

The
higher returns on investment have allowed LTH to continue to absorb
some of the pilgrimage cost for Malaysians that continues to rise every
year due to different external factors, Ismee said.

"Alhamdulillah,
in the past few years, we have been subsidising haj pilgrims. We have
been able to do it because of the good returns from our investments,"
he said.

This year, he said, the subsidy per person has risen to
RM5,175 from RM4,320 last year due to the rise in accommodation,
transportation and related costs, yet LTH depositors on their first
pilgrimage are charged RM9,980 for the haj package, a rate that has not
changed since 2009.

"In the haj training course, we always
inform them: if you are a first-timer and going under muassasah (normal
package service), this is how much Tabung Haji supports. In a way, our
higher returns on investments directly benefit intending haj pilgrims,"
he said.

He said the fund board's real estate investments in
Mecca are also a long-term strategy to reduce pilgrimage cost as it can
use the returns on investments as cross subsidy.

On the RM3
billion proposed sale of its 95 per cent stake in PT TH Indo
Plantations, Ismee said the buyer has been given until the end of
August to complete the due diligence process.

"Of course, with
the sale, this is going to be an exceptional item for the year and of
course, we will be making a handsome profit from this transaction.

We are going to declare as dividends to depositors, (definitely) it will translate to higher dividends," he said.

LTH
first bought the stake in 1997 for between RM800 million to RM1
billion. The Indonesian unit has 83,879 hectares of plantation land in
Riau, Sumatra, out of LTH's total landbank of 210,000 hectares.

Through the proceeds, LTH is planning to increase its interest in
plantations and is looking at Malaysia and Indonesia for possible new investments.

"Th
plantation sector is one of LTH's main areas of continued involvement.
From here we will look at opportunities to re-invest in new areas
offering better returns," he said.

"Increasing the landbank will
be done over the next few years. We will continue to look at Malaysia
and Indonesia because we are here to stay in the plantation sector.

"We
have the know-how, the expertise and the team. We should just expand on
this experience, for us to be a bigger player in the future," Ismee
said, adding that LTH's unit, TH Plantations Bhd, will be the flagship
in the plantation sector.

The pilgrimage fund also has another
six wholly-owned subsidiaries in the plantation sector -- TH Agro Sdn
Bhd, TH Bakti Sdn Bhd, TH Estates (Holding) Sdn Bhd, TH Indo Industries
Sdn Bhd and TH Ladang (Sabah and Sarawak) Sdn Bhd. -- BERNAMA