UAP OLD Mutual Financial Services held their Unit Trust Annual General Meeting earlier today at their premises in Nakawa Business Park. The meeting was punctuated by a presentation of the summation of the Unit Trust performance in the year ended 2021. And as such, the meeting was chaired by Professor Samuel Ssejjakka, Board chair UAP OM Financial Services,
According to Professor Ssejjakka, the UAP Old Mutual Unit Trust registered a 78% growth in fund size closing the year at UGX 615 billion in Assets Under Management from UGX 345 billion in 2020. The largest inflows registered were in the flagship umbrella trust fund which recorded an 80% growth. The Balanced fund registered a growth of 21% while the Money market fund dropped by 7% during the same period. We closed 2021 with 11,894 unit holders thus registering a growth of 76% from 6,751 by the close of 2020.
He further highlighted that Uganda’s economy is estimated to have expanded by 4.6%, rising from 3.5% recorded in the prior year. During the year, inflation remained subdued with annual headline inflation closing the year at 2.9% from 3.6% in 2020. This was largely driven by muted aggregate demand and the stable shilling.
The Uganda shilling remained robust gaining 2.89% against the dollar during the year which was largely attributed to increased portfolio inflows, NGOs inflows and coffee export receipts that exceeded the dollar demand due to low import demand
He mentioned that Interest rates were generally on a downward trend throughout the year with short-term, medium-term and long-term rates falling by averages of 100 bps, 183 bps and 200 bps respectively. This was driven by the central bank expansionary monetary policy stance that saw the CBR drop to 6.5% and excess liquidity in the market due to low credit pick up caused by covid effects,” read an excerpt of the presentation.
Professor further demonstrated that during the year, local equity prices continued to dip with the USE LSI falling by 2.5% driven by poor investor sentiment as investors continued to shy away from equities. However, the USE ALSI went up by 8.5% driven by recovery in cross listed stocks.
“In the regional markets, the Kenyan equity market continued with the positive momentum it had exhibited in the latter part of the previous year. This was reflected in the NASI, NSE-20 and NSE-25 indices returning 9.4%, 1.8% and 9.6%, respectively. The major driving factors of this growth were the price gains in shares of Equity Group Holdings Plc, ABSA Bank Kenya Plc, British American Tobacco Kenya Plc, KCB Group Plc and Safaricom Plc,” explained Byaruhanga.
The UAP Old Mutual Unit Trust report was confirmed by the auditors, as represented by Doreen Mutesi in a verbatim statement from KPMG.
“We have audited the financial statements of Unit Trust Funds (Umbrella Trust, Money Markets and Balanced Fund) as at 31 December 2021,which comprise the statement of financial position as at 31 December 2021, the statement of comprehensive income, changes in net assets and cash flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.
In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of UAP Old Mutual Financial Services Unit Trust Funds (Umbrella Trust, Money Markets and Balanced Fund) as at 31 December 2021, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and in the manner required by the Capital Markets Authority (Amendment) Act, 2016 Laws of Uganda and the Collective Investment Schemes (Financial and Accounting) Regulations, 2003 Laws and regulations of Uganda,” Mutesi read.
