NIT funds deliver good performance

The countrys oldest and leading Fund, National Investment (Unit) Trust (NIT), posted a healthy year-on-year bottom line growth of close to 30 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year. NI(U)T has registered a net profit of Rs.4.335 billion (without impairments) during 9MFY12, thereby, yielding earnings per unit of Rs.3.23, as opposed to Rs.2.85 during the same period of last year. The bottom line growth is symptomatic of growth in dividend income and realised capital gains. This can be gauged from the fact that the Fund saw a hefty 37 percent year-on-year growth in its dividend income to Rs.2.148 billion during 9MFY12. At the same time, realised capital gains grew by around 63 percent to Rs.891 million. With exposure in equities, NIT-State Enterprise Fund (NIT-SEF) and NIT-Equity Market Opportunity Fund (NIT EMOF) flourished on the heels of growth in capital gains and dividend income. With the KSE-100 index up by 10.31 percent during the first nine months of FY12, NIT EMOF outperformed the market benchmark index by a whopping margin of 7.79 percent. The NIT Government Bond Fund (NIT- GBF) recorded a slight drop in its net income, hammered by decline in income from government securities. This is down to redemptions and decline in yields on sovereign instruments. The Fund which holds exposure in sovereign instruments, National Saving Bonds, yielded an annualised return of 9.51 percent to its unit holders. Meanwhile growth in income from fixed income instruments supported the performance of NIT Income Fund, with the Funds net profit up by 19 percent, year-on- year, to Rs.185 million in 9MFY12. The Fund managed to yield an annualised return of around 12.69 percent to its investors, thereby outperforming its benchmark by 19bps.