Zenith Ethical Fund, Zenith Income Fund and Zenith Equity Fund, which are collectively called Zenith Funds, have assured investors of a better business result next year.
The funds, which are managed by Zenith Capital Limited, pool the resources of various unit holders together for onward investment and deliver returns to the unit holders.
The Zenith Equity Fund is substantially invested in equities; the Zenith Income Fund is invested in Fixed Income securities while the Zenith Ethical Fund is invested entirely in equities.
A director of the company, Mr. Jubril Enakele, who spoke on behalf of the acting Managing Director of Zenith Capital, Mr. Kenneth Brai, assured existing and potential investors of a better business performance next year, given the firm’s projections.
He said unit holders should expect the best from the company going forward, adding: “It has been a challenging year. But we are striving to deliver optimum returns for customers’ investments. We are going to continue to improve our communication and reach our investors via various channels to update them on developments around their investments.
“It is a difficult market now, but we will continue to strive to deliver optimum returns on investment in spite of the challenging operating environment. We will do better next year.”
The funds recommended a dividend of 106 kobo for the financial year. The dividend was approved by the unit holders of the three funds at the first annual general meeting held in Lagos.
In its report to unit holders, Zenith Capital Limited disclosed that the funds recommended a total dividend of 106 kobo for the financial year. According to the fund managers, Zenith Equity Fund is to pay a dividend of 38 kobo, while Zenith Ethical Fund and Zenith Income Fund are to pay 34 kobo, respectively.
However, no dividend was declared in respect of the 2014 financial year.
On the operating environment, the managers said in the period under review, market risk sentiments suffered as anxiety mounted over the ability of the Nigerian economy to weather the effect of falling crude oil prices and lingering devaluation pressure on the naira.
The managers explained: “As a result of this market scenario, patronage from offshore portfolio investors, who were mindful of the currency risk in the last two quarters of 2014 was quite low. Total foreign outflows from the stock market in 2014 have exceeded inflows by 22 per cent.”
They said Zenith Income Fund maintained an overweight position in fixed income instruments through the review period, which informed their increased exposure to high yielding treasury bills and took advantage of volatility in equities from time to time.