Proposal for SAS rebranding to attract more investors
KOTA KINABALU: Assistant State Finance Minister Saripuddin Hatta has suggested that Saham Amanah Sabah (SAS) undergo rebranding in order to attract more investors.
“I feel that rebranding would be a better way to create awareness and interest in SAS ... maybe organise a competition for a new logo,” the assistant minister said after a briefing at Saham Sabah Berhad here yesterday.
The State Government, he said, would do its best to help SAS regain the confidence of the public to invest in it.
He said this when asked on how the government can assist to dispel the negative perception the people have on SAS.
SAS, Saripuddin said, was affected by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and people are now wary of investing in the unit trust.
“SAS' value did drop to 17 sen per unit in the early 2000 but it has now increased to 38 sen, so now is the time to purchase or add investment. I will bring the matter to the Chief Minister's attention so we will see how we can help out so that SAS improves.
“I also urge GLCs (governmentlinked companies) in the state to help out by investing in SAS. By doing that they are showing that they have confidence in SAS and the public will follow suit,” he said and urged Saham Sabah Berhad Board of Directors to pay a courtesy call on Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal who is also the Finance Minister.
Meanwhile, Saham Sabah Berhad chairman Datuk Dr Marcus Mojigoh expressed hope that the government would allow it to diversify its business in order to provide additional income to SAS investors.
“Maybe the government can consider to give SAS a licence to import rice or in other business such as property. We also hope to be able to pay a courtesy call on our Chief Minister so we can inform him of SAS's future direction.
“This is the people's money that we hold as they have given us the trust to invest their money so they expect returns. When they do not get any returns from us, they have no confidence in us and because of this, the rakyat's perception about SAS is negative,” he lamented.
“I hope this will be rectified and clarified to the rakyat that we are doing the best to make money for them. We are making money and we pay out annual dividend to our investors. This year up to March we made about RM40.3 million and we paid out three per cent dividend per unit.
“Since SAS started we have paid out RM613 million in dividend. I am telling politicians who have criticized SAS to not politicise SAS and frightening off the rakyat from investing in it,” he stressed.
According to him, there are still 280 million units available and he hopes GLCs like Sawit Kinabalu and Sabah Foundation can consider to invest in SAS.
On SAS's effort to dispel the negative perception, Mojigoh said they would be conducting roadshows, mobile service and seminars, to attract new investors.
With the government's investment through its GLCs would surely create confidence in the public on SAS, he said.
Since its inception 23 years ago, SAS has declared 22 distributions involving a total payment of RM613,678,671 or 88.17 sen a unit (net) or 88.17% and a distribution in the form of units reinvested at the rate of 0.40 sen per unit (0.40 %).
Net Asset Value has appreciated to RM0.35061 as at 20th July 2018. If the total distributions were to be included, the Net Asset Value would be at the RM0.5620 level.
With the positive performance, SAS has met its objective of providing investors with income and capital growth.
Going forward, Saham Sabah Berhad as the manager of the SAS Fund Scheme will continue to generate reasonable returns consistent with its investment objective.