KARACHI, July 2: National Investment Trust (NIT) announced payment of Rs2,690 million in dividend to the unit holders at Rs1.75 per unit for the year ended June 30, 2003.

Chairman & MD NIT Mr.Tariq Iqbal Khan told a press briefing on Wednesday that pursuing the philosophy of matching current year return to current year performance, the Rs1.75 dividend for the year was being paid entirely from profit earned during FY 2003, without recourse to reserves. The dividend, he said, was the highest paid by NIT in eight years.

Mr Khan stated that the total return on NIT unit for the year 2002-03 as per unaudited accounts for the year, would work out to 100 per cent (including both appreciation in the Net Asset Value (NAV) per unit and a dividend yield of 15.8 per cent), from the date of last book closure. “This compares favourably with the yield of 13.1 per cent and total return of 38 per cent of the previous financial year (2001-02)”, said the NIT chairman, adding that the NAV per unit at June 30, 2003 stood at Rs22.13 (after providing for diminution in the value of investments of Rs0.52 per unit), up by 103 per cent from the level of Rs10.89 on June 30, 2002.

Mr Tariq Iqbal Khan stated that net profit for the year had increased by 55 per cent to Rs2,995 million, from Rs1,926 million the earlier year. The earning per unit stood at Rs1.95, which represented 60 per cent growth over Rs1.22 earned in FY2001-02.

Mr.Tariq Iqbal Khan stated that the total income earned by the Fund during the year rose by 25 per cent as a result of portfolio restructuring undertaken by the Fund over the past two years.

“The main investment objective of the Fund, following the portfolio restructuring, has now been aligned towards income generation, as shown by the rising level of dividend income”, Khan said. He stated that income from capital gains at Rs970 million, showed an increase of 79 per cent from the level of Rs541 million recorded in he previous year. All realized and unrealised gains and losses were recognized in the income statement and that there were no investments in the portfolio which were held above the market value. The Fund was stated to be in compliance with IAS 39.

Answering various queries, the NIT chief said that against the net redemption of Rs1.7 billion in 2001-02, the net redemption was only Rs800 million during the latest year, since against the redemption worth around Rs5 billion, the Fund had made sales of over Rs4 billion. Much of the sale, he said, had been made in the last two months of the fiscal year.

NIT had aggregate investments of Rs34 billion, said Mr Tariq Khan, which included Rs7.5 billion in PSO. He stated that the Fund had struck block sales deals with the sponsors in 25-30 companies which had proved good bargains for the Fund.

As regards investment in NIT units by foreign investors, particularly in the gulf region, the NIT chief said that an understanding had been reached with Arab Emirates Bank, according to which its correspondent bank would receive money in US dollars or dirhams and sell units in Rupee terms and not in foreign currency.

The NIT chief avoided to make a guess on the stock market direction.