Home finance company declares one billion cedis income

Accra (Greater Accra), 13th May ?99 ? Home Finance Company (HFC) on Wednesday held annual general meetings for its Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and the HFC Unit Trust.

HFC's REIT declared a total income of one billion cedis for last year, up from 286.5 million the previous year, while total income of the Unit Trust was 3.237 billion cedis, up from 2.289 billion cedis.

In its report at the annual general meeting of REIT in Accra, the HFC said the net income rose to 771.9 million cedis in 1998, from 141.5 million cedis posted in 1997.

The HFC said interest paid on disinvestments went up from 141.5 million cedis to 771.9 million cedis. Income distribution also went up to 140.1 million cedis from the 127.1 million cedis posted in the previous year.

Mr Asare Akuffo, General Manager of HFC, said the Fund value grew by 65 per cent to 3.5 billion cedis in 1998.

"This significant increase was due to appreciation in the fund's underlying assets of residential properties," he said. Net assets were 8.6 billion cedis, up from 2.5 billion cedis.

The Unit Trust report, signed by Mrs. Stephanie Baeta-Ansah, Managing Director of HFC, said the company's Unit Trust Fund value increased from 9.2 billion cedis in 1997 to 17.3 billion last year.

It said increase in fund value resulted in a 39 per cent increase on its net income within the same period.

The report attributed the recorded appreciation to an increase in the number of house owners through the company's scheme, saying within the same period, the number of unit holders increased from 3,200 to 3,914. Net assets were 15.17 billion cedis, compared with 8.28 billion cedis in 1997.

"This remarkable performance was due to the significant contribution of our portfolio of listed shares, which experienced appreciation of 93.22 per cent over the period.

The report said HFC's Unit trust remained a money market fund, investing its assets in fixed deposits, corporate rate bonds, treasury bills and bonds, and other fixed income securities, all of which constitute 11.35 per cent of the fund portfolio.

It said the company will maintain the fixed income feature of its investment portfolio to afford investors steady income, adding that the HFC/REIT is expected to contribute higher income to the funds as its projects commenced last year are completed.

This is expected to generate profit to ensure that the equity portfolio contributes to income distribution.

The report expressed the hope that the Central Bank would ensure a stable macro-economic environment through an improvement in monetary discipline and a favourable performance of the agricultural sector within the year.

GRi?/