Domino's Pizza Group plc (LON:DOM) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. If you purchase the stock on or after the 5th of September, you won't be eligible to receive this dividend, when it is paid on the 7th of October.

Domino's Pizza Group's upcoming dividend is UK£0.042 a share, following on from the last 12 months, when the company distributed a total of UK£0.095 per share to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Domino's Pizza Group has a trailing yield of 4.0% on the current share price of £2.398. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. That's why we should always check whether the dividend payments appear sustainable, and if the company is growing.

See our latest analysis for Domino's Pizza Group

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. Domino's Pizza Group paid out 116% of profit in the past year, which we think is typically not sustainable unless there are mitigating characteristics such as unusually strong cash flow or a large cash balance. Yet cash flows are even more important than profits for assessing a dividend, so we need to see if the company generated enough cash to pay its distribution. Over the last year, it paid out more than three-quarters (80%) of its free cash flow generated, which is fairly high and may be starting to limit reinvestment in the business.

It's disappointing to see that the dividend was not covered by profits, but cash is more important from a dividend sustainability perspective, and Domino's Pizza Group fortunately did generate enough cash to fund its dividend. Still, if the company repeatedly paid a dividend greater than its profits, we'd be concerned. Extraordinarily few companies are capable of persistently paying a dividend that is greater than their profits.

Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks in companies that generate sustainable earnings growth often make the best dividend prospects, as it is easier to lift the dividend when earnings are rising. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Fortunately for readers, Domino's Pizza Group's earnings per share have been growing at 18% a year for the past five years.