PPF declares 25 percent bonus

Pakistan Premier Fund (PPF), a closed-end fund, managed by Arif Habib Investments, has declared bonus of 25 percent for the year ended June 2004.
The company has announced one share for every four shares held by its certificate holders. This takes the total pay-out in 2003-04 to 37.5 percent as PPF had announced a 12.5 percent interim cash dividend, or Rs 1.25 per share for PPF, in October 2003. Besides the 37.5 percent pay-out for 2003-04, PPF has also declared an interim cash dividend 15 percent or Rs 1.50 per share for the current year (2004-05).
The company (PPF) has also proposed to increase its authorised capital to Rs 1,500 million from Rs 800 million, with a subsequent right issue of 50 percent at a premium of Rs 2 per share.
Both, the bonus dividend of 25 percent and the interim cash dividend of 15 percent and right shares are applicable on existing capital of 67,500,000 shares.
The interim cash dividend shall be payable on shares held prior to the bonus issue. The right shares will not be entitled to the interim cash or bonus issue.
The AGM for PPF will be held on August 7, 2004 and the book closure will be from August 4 to 7, 2004 (both days inclusive).
The PPF share has been trading at a premium in the market for the last few days due to expectation of a good announcement. The announcement, however, has been even better than expected which has resulted in a sharp increase in a day and the share is trading at the upside cap. PPF is perhaps the only closed-end fund which is trading at a premium.
PPF's profit after tax increased by 32 percent to Rs 446 million (EPS of Rs 6.74), while its net assets improved by 88 percent to Rs 1222 million. For the year, total income is composed of Rs 319 million from capital gains, Rs 48 million from dividend income and Rs 86 million from unrealised appreciation in the value of the portfolio.
Arif Habib Investments manages three open-end and two closed-end mutual funds, with over Rs 7.5 billion assets under management. Last week, Pakistan Stock Market Fund (PSM) and Pakistan Income Fund (PIF) declared record bonus dividends at the rate of 60 percent and 9 percent, respectively. The management has the unique distinction of being fund manager for best performing funds in the market in both fixed income and equity categories.