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Fraser and Neave, Limited (SGX:F99) has announced that it will pay a dividend of SGD0.04 per share on the 14th of February. The dividend yield is 4.0% based on this payment, which is a little bit low compared to the other companies in the industry.
Check out our latest analysis for Fraser and Neave
Fraser and Neave's Future Dividend Projections Appear Well Covered By Earnings
The dividend yield is a little bit low, but sustainability of the payments is also an important part of evaluating an income stock. The last dividend was quite easily covered by Fraser and Neave's earnings. This indicates that a lot of the earnings are being reinvested into the business, with the aim of fueling growth.
Looking forward, EPS could fall by 0.3% if the company can't turn things around from the last few years. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could be 51%, which we consider to be quite comfortable, with most of the company's earnings left over to grow the business in the future.
Dividend Volatility
The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was SGD0.14 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was SGD0.055. This works out to be a decline of approximately 8.9% per year over that time. Generally, we don't like to see a dividend that has been declining over time as this can degrade shareholders' returns and indicate that the company may be running into problems.
Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Achieve
With a relatively unstable dividend, and a poor history of shrinking dividends, it's even more important to see if EPS is growing. Unfortunately, Fraser and Neave's earnings per share has been essentially flat over the past five years, which means the dividend may not be increased each year.
Our Thoughts On Fraser and Neave's Dividend
Overall, it's nice to see a consistent dividend payment, but we think that longer term, the current level of payment might be unsustainable. The payments haven't been particularly stable and we don't see huge growth potential, but with the dividend well covered by cash flows it could prove to be reliable over the short term. This company is not in the top tier of income providing stocks.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Fraser and Neave (of which 1 is potentially serious!) you should know about. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.