October 28, 2003	Tuesday	Ramazan 1, 1424

KARACHI, Oct 27: Shareholders of the 13 funds of ICP lot-B and its State Enterprise Mutual Fund — all of them now belonging to PICIC — have got an interim cash dividend for the first time at the rate of 10 per cent.

“We were able to announce this interim cash dividend because of a strong performance of our mutual funds,” said Muhammad Ali Khoja, managing director, Pakistan Industrial & Credit Investment Corporation.

“The mutual fund industry as a whole has performed better in the backdrop of falling rates of return on bank deposits as well as on national saving schemes,” he said, explaining the reason behind stronger performance of the 13 mutual funds of ICP lot-B and its SEMF. PICIC had acquired the state-run ICP’s 13 mutual funds of lot-B in December 2002 and its SEMF in May 2003. The new managers of these funds i.e. PICIC offered 12-55 per cent cash dividend and also issued 15 per cent bonus shares for the year ending on June 30, 2003.

“The shareholders of SEMF had got 50 per cent right shares and after October 30 they also have become entitled to getting the 10 per cent interim cash dividend,” said Mr Khoja.

A press release issued by PICIC said during the first quarter of this fiscal year the cumulative income of the 13 funds of ICP lot-B and SEMF increased by Rs1.458 billion to Rs1.537 billion. Their after-tax profit rose by Rs1.438 billion to Rs1.489 billion.

The cumulative net asset value (NAV) of the 13 funds of ICP lot-B was Rs1.8 billion when acquired: it shot up to Rs2.754 billion on September 30, 2003. Similarly, the NAV of ICP-SEMF was Rs3.8 billion when PICIC acquired it and at the end of September it shot up to Rs3.8 billion.

The press release said the decision to announce the first-ever interim cash dividend was taken at a meeting of the PICIC board of directors held here on Monday. It said that while approving the quarterly accounts the board noted that during July-September 2003, total income of PICIC increased by Rs464 million to Rs820 million. Total expenses decreased by Rs49 million to Rs281 million and after-tax profit shot up by Rs477 million to Rs503 million. Earning per share (EPS) for the quarter ended on September 30 jumped to Rs5.01 from just 25 paisa recorded in the corresponding period.