NBAD UAE funds post record performance as at end of June

UAE Trading Fund (UTF) posted a 117% return since the beginning of the year, the NAV/unit reaching AED 36.9567 from AED 17.0484 in December 2004. Since its inception, in February 2004, the return to investors amounted to 270%.

Meanwhile the UAE Growth Fund (UGF) year to date return till end of June 2005 and since inception in October 2000 was 104% & 540% respectively. The price per unit reached AED 63.9958 from AED 31.3402 in December 2004. Similarly, the UAE Islamic Fund (Al Naeem) return since its launch in January 2005, was 74% to AED 17.3591/unit from AED 10.00/unit.

NBAD UAE Funds have attracted a wide range of investors since their inception, including private investors, local & overseas financial institutions and fund managers. The number of investors exceeds 12,500. The total assets of the combined Funds reached AED 6.8 Bn from AED 1.7 Bn at the beginning of the year.

As well as providing these excellent returns to investors, the funds have also played a vital role in the support & stability of the markets.

The major reasons behind the excellent performance of the Funds are the outstanding performance of the markets during the first half of the year, reflected in the tremendous increase in the trading volume (which has reached an unprecedented AED 215 Bn for the first half in 2005 with the number of shares traded aggregated 12 Bn shares, and the number of deals amounted to 748,000).

Furthermore, the expertise of the management team of the funds continued to provide a balanced and risk-controlled exposure to the market as well as access for foreign investors to those stocks not currently open to foreign ownership.

The Funds have played a major role in increasing awareness among investors to the markets themselves and the role of the funds in diversifying the risks associated with the Equity markets. The leverage provided by NBAD to its investors has helped in providing exceptional returns given the low cost of funding.

Strong economic conditions are expected to prevail at least in the medium term, which should provide further attractive growth opportunities in the market.