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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 GFL Limited (NSE:GFLLIMITED) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. Investors can purchase shares before the 11th of September in order to be eligible for this dividend, which will be paid on the 18th of October.
GFL's next dividend payment will be ₹3.50 per share. Last year, in total, the company distributed ₹3.50 to shareholders. Looking at the last 12 months of distributions, GFL has a trailing yield of approximately 6.4% on its current stock price of ₹54.45. 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 GFL has been able to grow its dividends, or if the dividend might be cut.
Check out our latest analysis for GFL
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. GFL has a low and conservative payout ratio of just 2.9% of its income after tax. Yet cash flow is typically more important than profit for assessing dividend sustainability, so we should always check if the company generated enough cash to afford its dividend. It paid out 106% of its free cash flow in the form of dividends last year, which is outside the comfort zone for most businesses. Companies usually need cash more than they need earnings - expenses don't pay themselves - so it's not great to see it paying out so much of its cash flow.
GFL paid out less in dividends than it reported in profits, but unfortunately it didn't generate enough cash to cover the dividend. Were this to happen repeatedly, this would be a risk to GFL's ability to maintain its dividend.
Click here to see how much of its profit GFL paid out over the last 12 months.
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. If earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. That's why it's comforting to see GFL's earnings have been skyrocketing, up 48% per annum for the past five years. Earnings have been growing quickly, but we're concerned dividend payments consumed most of the company's cash flow over the past year.
The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. It looks like the GFL dividends are largely the same as they were ten years ago.