20000218

NIT declares

interim dividend

of Rs 0.55 per unit

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: National Investment Trust (NIT) has declared an interim dividend of Rs 0.55 per unit.

Istaqbal Mehdi, chairman and managing director of NIT on Thursday said at a press conference that the growth of Trust during July-December, 1999 was around 36 percent while the overall increase in the stock market was about 22 percent.

During these six months, the Fund's worth improved to Rs 19 billion from Rs 14 billion. NIT's value further got a boost during the first two months of the year 2000 and the unit price reached Rs 14.20 and total value was nearly Rs 25 billion.

The Trust has announced an interim dividend of Rs 0.55 per unit for the six months ended December 31. The dividend paid to unit holders during the last fiscal year was Rs 0.47 per unit.

To a question, Amjad Waheed, Head of Asset Management at NIT said that the Trust had netted about Rs 67 per share on total transaction of 2.5 million shares of Shell sold to Shell Pakistan Ltd. The net holding of Shell at present, was around 3.6 million shares. When asked Amajd said that it was premature to say what would be the new deal and price of the next transaction. But, the stock market sources disclosed that a deal of 1.2 to 1.5 million shares of Shell is in offing, and these might be offloaded at around Rs 380 to Rs 400 per share.

NIT has earned over Rs 300 million by selling shares above the market price in the first half of fiscal year 2000. Waheed attributed NIT's performance to the professional management and improved performance of stock market.

The NIT professionals took various steps to structure the portfolio and better strategic allocation of assets which along with increased unit price has maximised the return on the portfolio.

Mehdi said that the dividend is only being paid on an interim basis and final dividend would be announced after the end of the current fiscal year. He was confident that NIT would be able to pay a good final dividend in June, 2000. Unprecedented measures have been taken by the Trust's management to further strengthen the unit holders confidence and attract more investments in order to enhance the portfolio.

Regarding, the privatisation fund, the chairman said that the Trust had held negotiations with their private partners and would induct professionals and experts on their fields to run this fund. The Trust would attract the overseas Pakistanis to invest in this fund to get maximum return.