ICB declares record dividends

The Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) announced 700 percent dividends on its first mutual fund, the highest in the history of capital market.
The state-run investment company also declared dividends on seven other mutual funds and one unit fund.
The entire dividends were higher than the disbursed amount of last year. But the good news failed to create a big positive impact on the ICB managed mutual funds.
Except for the first and second mutual funds, prices of the other six declined on Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday.

Even, the fourth ICB Mutual Fund was the worst performer of the day, as it plunged by 13.06 percent, followed by the third ICB Mutual Fund that dropped 11.32 percent in prices.
The fifth ICB Mutual Fund also slid by 6.46 percent, while the sixth dropped by 0.14 percent, seventh by 2 percent and eighth by 2.44 percent.
However, the first and second ICB mutual funds rose by 0.53 and 3.23 percent respectively on the trading board.
The ICB also announced Tk 36.50 dividend per unit on the unit fund for the year ended on June 2013.
“The portfolios of the mutual funds are very strong,” said ICB Managing Director Md Fayekuzzaman. “We reshuffled the portfolios over the years, resulting in good earnings from the investment.”
The new regulatory requirement on paying out 70 percent of income to the unit holders also helped ICB recommend higher dividends this year, he said.