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Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Volex plc (LON:VLX) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. You can purchase shares before the 9th of January in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 5th of February.
Volex's next dividend payment will be UK£0.01 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of UK£0.026 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Volex stock has a trailing yield of around 1.3% on the current share price of £1.49. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. As a result, readers should always check whether Volex has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for Volex
Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Volex paid out just 13% of its profit last year, which we think is conservatively low and leaves plenty of margin for unexpected circumstances.
Click here to see how much of its profit Volex paid out over the last 12 months.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Businesses with strong growth prospects usually make the best dividend payers, because it's easier to grow dividends when earnings per share are improving. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. That's why it's comforting to see Volex's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 68% per annum for the past five years. With earnings per share growing rapidly and the company sensibly reinvesting almost all of its profits within the business, Volex looks like a promising growth company.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. Volex has seen its dividend decline 2.5% per annum on average over the past nine years, which is not great to see. It's unusual to see earnings per share increasing at the same time as dividends per share have been in decline. We'd hope it's because the company is reinvesting heavily in its business, but it could also suggest business is lumpy.
The Bottom Line
Should investors buy Volex for the upcoming dividend? Typically, companies that are growing rapidly and paying out a low fraction of earnings are keeping the profits for reinvestment in the business. This is one of the most attractive investment combinations under this analysis, as it can create substantial value for investors over the long run. Volex ticks a lot of boxes for us from a dividend perspective, and we think these characteristics should mark the company as deserving of further attention.