Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kenanga Investors said, "We are proud to declare an income distribution for a wide range of funds under our management. Income distribution yields ranged from 8% to 12% for equity and balanced funds while fixed income funds generated average yields of 6%."

The income distribution was derived from the funds' realised gains, dividends and other income across equity, fixed income and mixed asset classes, which included the firm's flagship funds Kenanga Growth Fund and Kenanga Syariah Growth Fund.

"The outperformance from our funds echoes our superior bottom-up stock selection in small-and-mid cap counters, many of which have exhibited strong earnings growth in the past few years, including 2020. Kenanga Investors' long-standing firmwide commitment towards a 'Consistent Top Performance' philosophy is reflected even when markets are volatile, as we strive to protect and hedge risk while taking advantage of positive conditions," said De Alwis.

Despite this stellar performance, the past year was not without its challenges as many segments of the economy were affected due to the lockdowns. De Alwis maintains that the key factor was to avoid panic selling while adhering to the firm's investment strategy and stringent risk management framework which allowed it to identify key companies which were best positioned during the period.

"For 2021, we have structured our approach to centre on recovery and growth themes with vaccination programs progressing and the perpetual interest in tech and electronics. Moving forward, we recognise the growing demand within the IT infrastructure industry stemming from the work-from-home movement. We are excited by these rising trends and remain committed to embracing them by developing products that are relevant and sustainable that would enable our clients to build a more diversified portfolio," De Alwis added.

Since 2019, Kenanga Investors has completed two major acquisition exercises to expand its foothold within the asset and wealth management space, first with award-wining fixed income expert Libra Invest Berhad in 2019 and most recently with i-VCAP Management Sdn Bhd, the first Shariah exchange-traded fund ("ETF") issuer in Malaysia, early this year. Known for its alternative line of products, it has launched several milestone products in the industry including the first artificial intelligence driven fund, Kenanga Global Multi Asset Fund, the start-up focused Kenanga Global Unicorn Series and the first KLCI-benchmarked leveraged and inverse ETFs.

As at 28 February 2021, the firm manages 38 unit trust funds, 2 private retirement schemes (consisting of 6 core funds and 1 non-core fund), 6 exchange-traded funds (ETFs), 29 wholesale funds and other funds from government agencies, pension funds, insurance, corporate and individual clients with total assets under administration amounting to RM14.7 billion.

For more information about Kenanga Investors Berhad, please visit www.kenangainvestors.com.my.