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Mears Group plc (LON:MER) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next three days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be one business day before the record date which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. It is important to be aware of the ex-dividend date because any trade on the stock needs to have been settled on or before the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Mears Group's shares on or after the 26th of May, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 16th of June.
The company's next dividend payment will be UK£0.055 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed UK£0.08 to shareholders. Calculating the last year's worth of payments shows that Mears Group has a trailing yield of 4.1% on the current share price of £1.93. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. As a result, readers should always check whether Mears Group has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for Mears Group
Dividends are usually paid out of company profits, so if a company pays out more than it earned then its dividend is usually at greater risk of being cut. Mears Group paid out more than half (68%) of its earnings last year, which is a regular payout ratio for most companies. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Mears Group generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. What's good is that dividends were well covered by free cash flow, with the company paying out 5.8% of its cash flow last year.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?
Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. If business enters a downturn and the dividend is cut, the company could see its value fall precipitously. Readers will understand then, why we're concerned to see Mears Group's earnings per share have dropped 11% a year over the past five years. Such a sharp decline casts doubt on the future sustainability of the dividend.
Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Mears Group has lifted its dividend by approximately 0.6% a year on average.