An Evaluation of Financial Performance of Unit Trust Management Companies Between 1992-1994

This paper evaluates the financial performance of unit trust management companies. Although this study adopts financial ratio analysis similar to Lee and Cooperman (1989), some formulae were adjusted to suit; i) the reporting format of the companies’ financial reports and ii) the nature of the business relevant to the industry. The research findings show that there is a vast diversity in financial performance among unit trust management companies both on the basis of crosssectional and time-series analyses during the period between 1992-1994. These
large deviations from the industry average, could mean that most of the companies were not well managed in term of liquidity, activity, debt and profitability. In addition, there was no significant consistency in coefficient correlation between the sizes of shareholders’ fund and performance in terms of ROI and ROE, as illustrated in linear regression and Pearson’s coefficient
correlation analysis during the period under reviewed. However, there is still much room for improvement in the management of unit trust funds to achieve better returns for their unitholders.