KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) will give focus to strategic investments that are capable of yielding more stable returns for its depositors.
Group managing director and CEO Nik Mohd Hasyudeen Yusoff said LTH would resort to the move in light of the challenging investment climate locally and abroad.
“Currently we have RM70 bil in deposits to manage; what we are doing now is to try to invest in a way that would secure us more stable returns. That’s why we (will) invest more in fixed-income assets such as sukuk, real estate.
“Compared to shares or equities investment, we can get dividends and returns when there is a price or capital increase,” he told a media conference on LTH’s roadmap here recently.
He said LTH would limit its investment in shares and equities due to the higher risk compared to fixed asset investments.
“We manage assets – we don’t simply buy and keep them. Some, we keep long term as we want to get dividends from sukuk, and some, we invest for a relatively short period, meaning, once we have secured the targeted profit, we will sell.
“And after selling, we buy other assets. Sometimes people asked how many assets have LTH sold but they forgot to ask what did we buy after that as if our job is only to sell assets. No, we sell and we reinvest or we buy better assets,” he said.
Nik Mohd Hasyudeen said LTH’s forward concept entailed looking two years ahead in regard to the investment environment and stability of the companies it wants to invest in.
“Sometimes the companies are good but over time, maybe because of a change in the industry, we have to sell before the value goes down. The buy and sell process is a normal thing for asset management institutions such as LTH,” he added.
Meanwhile, LTH anticipates a higher dividend for the financial year 2019 in light of its strategic investment plans and favourable third-quarter financial performance.
“In terms of performance (financial), I have already announced that for the third quarter, Alhamdulillah, we are on the right track. We are positive, this year with only three weeks left, we pray we can close the year with better performance than last year,” he said. – Bernama
