KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 9): The Malaysian Armed Forces Fund Board's (Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera, or LTAT) audited income for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2011 rose 14.4% to RM856.6 million from RM751.5 million year earlier, the highest in 39 years since its establishment.
In a statement on Thursday, LTAT said it disbursed a 15% dividend totaling RM680.4 million, compared to dividend rate of 14% or RM616.3 million in 2010.
LTAT said its group profit before tax and zakat for financial year 2011 stood at RM1.8 billion, reflecting a 5.8% increase compared with RM1.7 billion for the previous financial year.
LTAT's assets grew by 17% to RM69.4 billion for financial year 2011, compared with RM59.3 billion the year before, it said.
Chairman Rtd Admiral Tan Sri Anwar Mohd Nor said that the record earnings were borne from the fact that LTAT was conscious of its obligation to members.
"Due to such strong results, we are able to plough back via dividends and various social-development and welfare programmes for the benefit of members of the armed forces and their families," he said.
Anwar said that given LTAT's role as a fund management organisation that was committed to elevate socio economic conditions for its numerous members, it had carried out an array of corporate social responsibility programmes for members of the armed forces and their families.
This includes training, education, welfare, home ownership and scholarships programmes, he said.
Anwar said LTAT reached out to children of serving and retired armed forces personnel who achieved outstanding result in their UPSR and PMR as well as those who were offered places at higher learning institutes via its Yayasan Warisan Perajurit (YWP).
"Amongst its many programmes, YWP has established a scholarship programme called Mengubah Destini Anak Bangsa (MDAB) specifically to assist children of armed forces personnel who are offered places to study in pre-Diploma programme at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
"This effort is set to create a significant impact on the lives of children of armed forces personnel especially in the rural areas who are unable to further their studies due to financial constraints," he said.
Anwar said that during the year under review, LTAT and its group of companies donated RM1 million to the 2011 National Warriors' Day Campaign Fund and RM252,600 to the Armed Forces Welfare Fund.
In addition, RM45,500 was donated to sports organisations and other welfare bodies to help finance their annual activities, he said.
"Malaysia is not insulated from the vagaries of the global economic conditions, particularly what is happening in the eurozone and USA.
Despite these uncertainties, we will work harder to do our utmost to deliver good results for the benefit of our members," he said.