The Samoa National Provident Fund, (SNPF) and Unit Trust of Samoa (UTOS) has received a collective FJD$406,183.66 in dividends from the Unit Trust of Fiji.
The Unit Trust of Fiji declared a total dividend of 6.73cents per unit for Financial Year Ending 2018 and most recently announced an interim dividend of 3.50cents per unit for the first six (6) months of their Financial Year Ending December 2019.
In addition to the dividends, there are also capital gains that are realised from the continuous increase in the unit price.
In the spirit of Pacific Co-Investment, the Unit Trust of Fiji launched its Global Investment Plan as part of their Regional Expansion in 2018. This provided an opportunity for UTOS and SNPF to invest indirectly in the investments available in Fiji through the Unit Trust of Fiji.
The dividends presented are a testament to the lucrative opportunities that are available offshore; and the benefit from these returns goes directly to the contribution of the members and also the unitholders.
Earlier this year, SNPF declared a 9.10% interest for their member contributions and this interest is made possible from various investments that the Fund has made and is inclusive of the dividends from the Unit Trust of Fiji.
Similarly, the Unit Trust of Samoa announced a dividend of 10sene per unit which together with a capital gain of 5.77% provided a total annual return to the UTOS unitholders of 11.83% per annum, by the end of its financial year on 30 June 2019, which was also assisted by the improved returns from its Unit Turst of Fiji investments.
The partnership that exists between the two Unit Trusts and SNPF provide more than just co-investment opportunities as the working relationship extends to technical capacity building and sharing of resources and product knowledge. Unit Trust of Fiji will be encouraged to also co-invest in Samoa with UTOS and SNPF in the near future.
Following the discussions that had taken place during the recently hosted Pacific Island Investment Forum it is expected that more opportunities will be made available for funds within the Pacific to co-invest and reap the benefits of mutual investments.
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