KARACHI, July 13: Arif Habib Financial Services Group completed its round of results for the year ended June 30, 2004 on Tuesday, with an announcement of dividend at 8.25pc or Rs0.825 per certificate on its Pakistan Capital Market Fund (PCM).
"This hefty dividend has been declared by PCM within a short period of just 5 months of operations", said a spokesman for the Group. He stated that one of the unique features of PCM was that it was the first closed-end fund to be structured as a unit trust scheme, assets of which are held by a trustee.
The fund was heavily oversubscribed, when offered for public subscription early January. The announcement of PCM payout on Tuesday, brings to a close the declaration of dividends on all listed Group financial services companies for this season.
In a written statement, the company recalled that its first announcement was an overwhelming 300pc dividend declared by the Group's flagship company - Arif Habib Securities - on June 28.
That was followed by announcements by the Group's open-end funds - Pakistan Income Fund (PIF) and Pakistan Stock Market Fund (PSM). "Both of those stood out as the best paying funds for the fiscal 2004 on total return basis, on their respective (fixed income and equities) categories", said the company, adding that PSM had declared a hefty Rs30 per unit bonus dividend while PIF payout was Rs4.5 per unit.
The Group's Pakistan Premier Fund (PPF) had announced on Monday bonus at 25pc in addition to the 12.5pc interim cash dividend that was already distributed in October last, taking the total payout for the year to 37.5pc. PPF also declared additional 15pc interim cash dividend for the year 2004-05.
Arif Habib Securities is now gearing up to launch the Pakistan Strategic Allocation Fund (PSAF), which the Group hopes to introduce to the market in the near future. The total offering in PSAF, to the public is expected to be of the size of Rs750 million. The Group proposes to make a preferred allocation of 20pc of the initial offer, at par, to non-resident Pakistanis.
