News Room

Press Release

NAMAL and Amana join hands to launch Sri Lanka's first Shariah Compliant Fund.

NAMAL Launches Sri Lanka's First Close Ended Fund

NAMAL Rewards Fund Investors

National Equity Fund Declares Tax-free Dividend of 20% Consistent Dividend Record of 13 Years.

NAMAL Builds Good Track Record for Funds

NAMAL Launches Sri Lanka's First Money Market Fund

An Exceptionally Good Year to Unitholders of NAMAL

National Equity Fund declares highest ever dividend of Rs. 2/- per unit

NAMAL Cuts Front End Fee to 2%

NAMAL's Funds Release Interim Results

NAMAL Income Fund Generated 13.23% return to long term investors

NAMAL and Amana join hands to launch Sri Lanka's first Shariah Compliant Fund.

National Asset Management Ltd (NAMAL) Sri Lanka’s pioneer fund manager together with Amana Capital the pioneer in Islamic finance in Sri Lanka, recently announced the launch of The “NAMAL Amana Equity Fund”.

The first of its kind, the fund brings together the expertise and experience of the two companies, to introduce in new dimension in investment.

Designed to fulfill the needs of investors, who wish to make investments which comply to Shariah guidelines, the main objective of the fund is to provide capital growth during the tenure of the fund, by investing in Shariah compliant equity securities listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. The Fund’s investments will be based on fundamental research on qualified companies to create long term value appreciation to the fund. The fund will not make speculative investments.

The fund will be close ended with a maturity period of five years and will distribute an annual dividend. Dividends from the fund are currently exempt from taxes.

The Initial Public Offer of the NAMAL Amana Equity Fund will commence on 6th November 2007 and close on the 6th December 2007 or earlier if the issue is fully subscribed. The Fund will offer 25 million units at Rs 10/- per unit during the Initial offer to the public, with the option to increase the offer up to a maximum of 50 million units, in the event of the issue being oversubscribed.

The offer is open to both Local and foreign investors and will be on a first come first served basis.

HSBC will act as the Trustee & Custodian to the NAMAL Amana Equity Fund.

For further information investors can contact National Asset Management Ltd (NAMAL) or Amana Capital or visit their websites www.namalfmc.com or www.amanacapital.com

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NAMAL LAUNCHES SRI LANKA'S FIRST CLOSE ENDED FUND

National Asset Management Ltd (better known as NAMAL) today, announced the launch of Sri Lanka's first close ended fund. The "NAMAL FLEXI INCOME FUND".

Unlike the other unit trust funds available in the Sri Lankan market, which are open ended, the Flexi Income Fund will have a fixed maturity period and issue a limited number of units. The Fund’s investments will be exclusively in fixed income securities.

What’s unique about this fund, is the flexibility it affords the managers, in allowing them to offer many investment schemes within the parameters of the Trust Deed. This in turn will help us to tailor make schemes to suit market needs, explained Mr Jeyavarman CEO of NAMAL.

"Income Plus" will be the first scheme offered under the Flexi income fund. The scheme will issue a maximum of 100 million units at Rs 10/- per unit and has a fixed maturity period of two years. Investors in the scheme will receive quarterly dividends.

Although traditional close ended funds do not permit capital withdrawals, during the funds fixed period of existence, the “Income Plus” scheme provides liquidity comfort to the investor, by permitting withdrawals up to a maximum of 50% of the initial capital invested, is on a quarterly basis, on pre- announced dates.

Dividends from the fund are currently exempt from tax. This added to the low fee structure, makes it an attractive investment opportunity for investors in the fixed income securities market. All capital and income will be paid to the investor at the end of the two year period.

The NAMAL Flexi Income Fund will be in scrip less form, adding convenience to the investor. The Managers will update investors on the fund activities and performance through regular reports, which will also be available on the NAMAL website www.namalfmc.com.

The fund will officially accept investments commencing 26th February 2007 and close on the 9th March 2007 or earlier, if the issue is fully subscribed. The minimum investment needed to join the fund is Rs 10,000/=

We appreciate the role of the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation Ltd, as sponsor of the fund and for the confidence they have placed in us, Mr Jeyavarman further stated.

Deutsche Bank AG Colombo branch will act as Trustee and Custodian to the NAMAL Flexi Income Fund. NAMAL will be the Manager and Registrar to the fund. NAMAL is the pioneer in the fund management industry in Sri Lanka and has a wide spectrum of funds, which include the National Equity Fund, NAMAL Growth Fund, NAMAL Income Fund and NAMAL Money Market Fund under its management. NAMAL is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka to operate and manage unit trusts and portfolios.

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NAMAL REWARDS FUND INVESTORS

National Asset Management Limited (NAMAL) pioneers in the Unit Trust Industry has rewarded its investors spread across four Unit Trust Funds, in line with respective fund mandates, stated a press release from NAMAL having released respective annual reports for the year ended 31st March 2005.

The year under review was eventful and stock market was resilient appreciating by 36.4% as measured by the All Share Price Index (ASPI).

Though the election of a new government without a simple majority in parliament affected the sentiment of investors negatively at the beginning of the year, market players brushed away those concerns to drive the market up during this period. Furthermore, the Lanka IOC initial public offering and strategic buying in some listed companies helped to sustain the momentum of the market.

'NAMAL is focussed to provide the best possible returns to the investors in our schemes in accordance with the Fund objectives', said Mr S Jeyavarman CEO of NAMAL. Each of our funds have unique features considering the need of the investors in Sri Lanka, he further added.

• National Equity Fund

  National Equity Fund (NEF) the first fund launched by NAMAL in 1991 paid Rs 2/- per unit in March 2005 as well, having paid similar quantum in the previous year. This gives a current yield of 16.3% to investors who made their investments one year ago and 20% to those invested at the inception. NEF's investors overall return for the year upto March 2005 was 26.72% (inclusive of dividends). Fund has maintained an equitable asset allocation policy to deliver comparable income and growth to the unit holders investments. NEF has so far paid cumulative dividends amounting to Rs 13.25 per unit to original investors. "This dividend record remains the highest in the industry and well ahead of the next competing similar scheme in this category" added Mr S Jeyavarman, CEO of NAMAL.

• NAMAL Growth Fund

  NAMAL Growth Fund (NGF) launched in 1997 continued to maintain its growth momentum by investing in growth stocks listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange. The investors in this Fund were rewarded by the growth in the unit value by 27.49% over one year period ending 31st March 2005. The Funds main objective is to provide growth and it does not distribute dividend on an annual basis. The positive trends in the capital market worked towards the overall growth of the investments and generated returns commensurate with the risk of the equity investments.

• NAMAL Income Fund

  NAMAL Income Fund (NIF) launched in 1998 invests in fixed income securities to generate regular income to investors, NIF pays dividends in every July and January. During the year ended 31st March 2005 two dividends amounting to Rs 0.70 per unit was paid to investors. Since its inception the cumulative dividend distribution amounts to Rs 7.58 per unit. 'This strategy we believe would help our investors to optimise their future returns, according to the sources at NAMAL. NIF obtained higher level of liquidity recently to take advantage of the rising interest rate in the economy.

• NAMAL Money Market Fund

  NAMAL Money Market Fund (NMMF) is our latest addition to the NAMAL Fund family, launched in September 2004 it has operated for about six months before the end of the financial year. NMMF invests in money market securities having maturity less than 12 months to provide regular income and safety to the capital of the investor. NMMF pays dividends every quarter to enable the corporates and investors to manage the short term cash surplus more effectively. Fund distributed Rs 0.35 per unit in the first two quarters. In the rising interest rate environment the fund is well positioned to take advantage with the high level of liquidity maintained in the fund.

NAMAL provides a platform to plan investments through the four funds to suit any investment requirement of a corporate or an individual investor. "A focussed and experienced management team at NAMAL works behind the scene to achieve the investment goals set out for each of the funds under management" the release concluded.

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NATIONAL EQUITY FUND DECLARES TAX-FREE DIVIDEND OF 20% CONSISTENT DIVIDEND RECORD OF 13 YEARS

National Asset Management Ltd (NAMAL) Managers of the flagship first Unit Trust, National Equity Fund (NEF), announced a tax free dividend of 20% (Rs 2.00 per unit on initial offer price of Rs 10/-) for the current investors. NEF's main objective is to provide annual income to the investor and to achieve long term growth by investing in selected shares. Investors in NEF enjoy the benefits from fixed income market while exposed to a selected portfolio of shares to generate long term growth of investments. The balanced nature of the portfolio reduces the risk of down trend to the investors at adverse situations from the share market while ensuring regular income and growth opportunities over longer period, the press release from NAMAL stated.

NEF has so far paid dividends to its unit holders every year and the total dividend distribution until last year amounts to Rs 11.25 per unit. With this dividend the total payment of dividend will amount to Rs 13.25 per unit. In this period the Colombo Stock Market performed well and reached a historical high as measured by All Share Price Index creating an opportunity to the Managers of the National Equity Fund to realize some of its gains from stock investments.

Although the interest income from investment declined due to lower interest rates, compared to the previous year, the dividends from share investment and gains from sale of shares enabled the fund to maintain the same dividend to unit holders as in the last year of operations, the press release stated.

NEF has been a consistent performer during the last five years with an uninterrupted track of dividend distribution from its launch in December 1991.

Funds performance can be observed from the table below.

It is assumed that dividends are reinvested in the fund.

Under the current tax provisions the dividends are tax free in the hands of unit holders. Unit holders can either receive dividends in cash or reinvest the dividends in the fund to accumulate savings for future needs. "We provide the opportunity to reinvest the dividends with NEF without the front-end fee which is applicable in normal circumstances" NAMAL sources said. The original investors who opted to reinvest the dividends have achieved a compound annual return of 11.86% during the last 13 year period.

"NEF"s investments are diversified in both fixed income securities and stocks. As on 28th February 2005, NEF's investments comprise 66.39% in shares and 33.61% in fixed income securities. As a balanced fund, its investments are positioned to generate annual dividends while achieving growth in the medium to long term" stated Mr S Jeyavarman, CEO of NAMAL.

NAMAL, the pioneer licensed Unit Trust Management Company in Sri Lanka is the subsidiary of the DFCC Bank and manages the National Equity Fund, NAMAL Growth Fund, NAMAL Income Fund and NAMAL Money Market Fund. NAMAL provides host of services to investors to find need based investment solutions, the release stated.

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