PACRA Maintains Stability Rating of NIT Islamic Income Fund

NIT Islamic Income Fund (or the “Fund”) is a medium risk profile Fund. The Fund had allocated ~38% of its net assets to Banks, mainly AAA rated banks, ~40.5% of its net assets to Sukuks rated A or higher whereas ~19% of its net assets into 5-year GoP– Ijara Sukuk. The duration of the Fund decreased to 56 days (Dec-21: 58days) limiting the exposure to interest rate risk. Whereas, the WAM of the Fund remained on higher side 623 days in the end Jun-22 (Dec’21: 677 days), exposing the Fund to credit risk. The main reason for the increased WAM was the exposures in Sukuks and GoP-Ijarah sukuks. The unit holding pattern of the fund was highly concentrated where ~51% were represented by top 10 investors.
Going forward, material changes in the Fund's asset allocation strategy, impacting its credit quality and/or exposure to interest rate risk, would affect the rating.

About the Entity
National Investment Trust Limited was established in 1962 and is a pioneer in the mutual fund industry. The Company’s Board of Directors currently comprises eleven board members out of which ten are non-executive. Mr. Adnan Afridi, CEO/MD who joined in Feb'19 holds profound experience in the financial services and capital markets. Mr. Manzoor Ahmed is the COO and has a successful track record of managing the operations and investment portfolio of the Company. The Company is currently one of the largest asset management companies in Pakistan with a portfolio of fourteen open-end funds which includes two non-public funds namely NIT-SEF and NIT-EMOF, two voluntary pension schemes, and an exchange-traded fund. The assets under management of the Company stood at ~PKR 96.34bln (including SEF & EMOF) end-Jun'22.