PNB Group Chairman, Tan Sri Dr Zeti Aziz and PNB President & Group Chief Executive Datuk Abdul Rahman Ahmad at Menara PNB, December 21, 2018. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 — Permodalan Nasional Berhad's (PNB) declared an income distribution of 6.50 sen per unit and a bonus of 0.50 sen per unit of its Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) for 2018.

The dividend will be paid out on January 1. The rate is lower, however, than 2017’s 7.00 sen base rate with 0.25 sen bonus.

The agency also announced a 3.25 sen dividend for the Amanah Saham Nasional (ASN) this year, marginally lower than last year’s 3.65 sent per unit.

PNB Group chairman Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Aziz explained that global developments such as the US-China trade war and Brexit have led to economic uncertainty and volatility that weighed on the performance of the trusts.

“The further normalisation of the US monetary policy and consequent fund outflows from emerging markets as well as concerns arising from international trade tensions made 2018 a very challenging year for global and domestic markets.

“Amidst these challenges, ASB's income distribution has remained competitive,” added Zeti this morning while making the announcement at ONB headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The total payout is estimated to be RM10.7 billion that will benefit 9.6 million holders of 155 billion units in ASB. The group also recorded a net income of RM8.99 billion for the first 11 months of the financial year, derived via dividends and capital gains from investments.

For the ASN, the estimated total payout is RM59.7 million to more than 1.2 million unit holders with more than 1.8 billion units in the fund. Their recorded net income of the first 11 months of 2018 at RM64 million.