Business

Friday September 4, 2009

EPF investment income up 17% on equities

By LEONG HUNG YEE


PETALING JAYA: The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has recorded a 17.1% increase in investment income to an unaudited RM4.8bil for the second quarter ended June 30 from RM4.09bil a year earlier.

Compared with the preceding quarter, the investment income achieved represented a 46.64% improvement over the RM3.27bil charted in the first quarter of this year, EPF said in a statement yesterday.

The higher investment income was due to improved performance from investments in equities for the second quarter.

Tan Sri Azlan Zainol says EPF has managed to meet expectations despite the global uncertainty

Equities, which was among the highest income contributors in the second quarter, contributed RM1.74bil, seven times higher than the RM239.55mil earned in the first quarter.

Of the funds invested in the equities market, 37.55% was in trade and services-related equities while 33.88% was in financial equities.

Chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said despite the instability of the global economy, EPF had managed to meet expectations and delivered better investment results in the quarter under review.

“This reflects the value of our disciplined approach in managing risks and returns for our members.

“Although higher returns are desirable, we must not lose sight of our priority to provide capital preservation and stability of returns,” he said, adding that the second quarter had seen signs of recovery in major global equity indices, especially in the countries that EPF invested in.

“While we cannot say that the worst is over, should this trend continue or at least maintains at the current levels, we are positive that we can reverse the bulk of the allowances for diminution in value of equity investments that we made last year,” he said.

The highest income contributor in the second quarter was loans and bonds, which contributed RM1.81bil to EPF’s total investment income compared with RM1.78bil attained in the previous quarter.

The EPF maintained a low-risk profile by continuing with its policy of having the majority of its loans and bonds in high-grade companies with credit ratings of AAA or AA, it said.

As at June 30, a total of 33.66% of loans and bonds investments was in companies with AAA credit ratings and 49.4% in companies with AA ratings.

According to the EPF, its investments in Malaysian Government Securities (MGS), another major contributor to its total investment income, rose marginally by RM830,000 to RM1.11bil compared with the preceding quarter.

Meanwhile, contributions from money market instruments dropped 21.5% to RM94.27mil in the second quarter from RM120.11mil in the first quarter.

Properties contributed RM20.8mil to EPF’s income in the second quarter, a slight increase from the RM20.6mil in the first quarter.

The EPF’s total fund currently stands at RM353.9bil, up 1.61% from RM348.3bil in the first quarter.

Azlan said while there were signs of stabilisation in the global markets, it was too early to see how this would affect EPF for the remainder of the year.

“Nevertheless, as a long-term investor and custodian of more than RM350bil in retirement fund, we will continue to take proactive measures to enhance the value of our members’ savings in these trying times while still upholding our prudent approach,” he added.


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