July 9, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 12, 1427

KARACHI, July 8: National Investment Trust Limited (NIT) has declared dividend at Rs5.80 per unit for the year ended June 30, 2006, which was the highest payout in the 44 history of the Trust.

The NIT dividend also beat the best of analysts’ expectations. On the lower side, the payout was being forecast between Rs4 and Rs4.50 and on the higher side between Rs5 and Rs5.25.

The announcement was made by Tariq Iqbal Khan, chairman and MD of NIT at a press conference that followed the meeting of board of directors held here on Saturday which approved accounts for the year ended June 30, 2006. Several graphs and charts distributed to reporters at the meeting showed that dividend per unit had consistently increased in each of the year since Mr Khan took office in October 2002: For FY02: Rs1.20; FY03: Rs1.75; FY04: Rs2.55: FY05: Rs3.30 and FY06: Rs5.80 per unit.

Khan observed that the Trust would distribute phenomenal sum of Rs8.66bn among its unit holders for the latest year, which would be 76pc more than Rs5.28bn paid last year. Net Asset Value (NAV) of NIT unit increased from Rs38.12 (ex dividend) as of June 30, 2005 to Rs48.87 as of June 30, 2006 (including a dividend yield of 15.22pc on NAV at the beginning of the year) reflecting total return of 28.20pc for the year ended June 30.

The Trust earned Net Income of Rs9,238 million which represented growth of 62.54pc from Rs5,683 million in FY05. That translated into record earning per unit of Rs6.19 in FY06, representing growth of 74.31pc over earning per unit of Rs3.55 in FY05.

The chairman observed that NIT had been following a policy on consistent basis to generate activity in the stock market with a view to support the market through its operations, enhance investor confidence, work only on delivery based purchases and not to sell in falling market. “This policy has not only yielded good results for the Trust but strengthened the overall stock trade and the capital market,” Khan said.

On several questions raised by the Press, he stated that NIT has always been able to maintain sufficient unrealised gains so that any decline in the market may not have any adverse effect on its dividend payout capacity. NIT has held on to its policy of protecting the “Family Silver” and its portfolio has given it the necessary cushion in the shape of unrealised gains. The market value of its equity portfolio was Rs71.10bn as on June 30, 2006 against total cost of Rs23.07bn, showing huge appreciation of Rs48.03bn in the market value over cost. That translated into per unit unrealised gains of Rs32.17 as of June 30, 2006, 25.56pc higher in terms of per unit unrealised gains of Rs25.6 as of June 30, 2005.

The sale of NIT units (including CIPs) stood at Rs5.04bn as against the redemption of Rs10.58bn during the year. All redemptions were easily met. Net assets of the Trust, nonetheless, depicted a growth of 19.59pc from Rs61.00bn as on June 30, 2005 to Rs72.95bn as on June 30, 2006. “It would not be out of place to mention here that in spite of all the volatility in the market, investors have shown a tremendous amount of confidence in NIT which is evident from the sale of Rs2bn in the last 45 days of the financial year”, Khan said.