By Staff Writer
The Unit Trust of Samoa, UTOS, is sharing out $6.60m tala to all its unit holders in dividends for the Financial Year just ended 30 June 2021.
All unit holders are entitled to 8 sene per unit in the distribution of dividends.
The last 12 months has been “…a trialing year for Samoa; the on- going Covid-19 pandemic and its unprecedented impact on the Global economy, has also significantly affected our domestic economy,” a UTOS statement announcing the dividend noted.
“ Despite the economic downturn, the Unit Trust of Samoa continues to adapt to these challenging times and the declaring of a .08sene dividend distribution to unitholders is a testament to the Trust’s perseverance, as proudly declared by the Board of Directors of the Management Company of UTOS.
The declared dividend of .08sene per unit was made possible from this financial year’s total return to unitholders of 11.70%. The total amount to be paid to unitholders from this distribution amounts to $6.60Million Tala. Further to the dividend declared, unitholders have also benefitted from a 6.02% unit value growth since the beginning of the financial year.
This year’s total return of 11.70% has exceeded last year’s performance where the total return recorded was 10.21% which reflects UTOS’ commitment to overcome all these challenges in order to deliver better returns for its unitholders.
The dividend distribution for Unitholders was declared during the UTOS (Management) Company Board of Directors meeting on 30th June 2021.Trading was closed immediately after declaration to protect the integrity of the trading process and allow the staff to process the dividend pay-out. Unitholders will be able to make a choice on whether to reinvest or cash out (full or partial) their dividend from Monday, 12th of July 2021.
As of the 30th of June 2021 a total of 3,841 unitholders have registered with UTOS, reflecting a 16% growth in new investors joining the Trust since the previous financial year.
UTOS Management Company CEO, Tevaga Viane Tagiilima acknowledges the support of all its unitholders and stakeholders during these challenging times; their confidence in UTOS financial
services has led to another profitable year for the Trust. On behalf of the Trustees, the Chairman and the Board of Directors, the Management and Staff of UTOS (Management) Limited would like to convey our gratitude to all Samoans locally and abroad who continue to invest in the Unit Trust of Samoa.
UTOS (Trust) is a private trust owned by the Unitholders with its assets entrusted to a Trustee Company which holds in trust the funds of the unit holders. These funds are invested into a diversified portfolio of assets ranging from Term Deposits, Government Securities and shares in privately owned companies. Its social objective is inclusivity; allowing for accessible and affordable investment for ordinary Samoans. Its commercial objective is to generate returns for the unit holders.