Regular readers will know that we love our dividends at Simply Wall St, which is why it's exciting to see Rhone Ma Holdings Berhad (KLSE:RHONEMA) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. The ex-dividend date occurs one day before the record date which is the day on which shareholders need to be on the company's books in order to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Thus, you can purchase Rhone Ma Holdings Berhad's shares before the 27th of June in order to receive the dividend, which the company will pay on the 15th of July.

The company's next dividend payment will be RM00.01 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of RM0.02 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Rhone Ma Holdings Berhad stock has a trailing yield of around 2.9% on the current share price of RM00.685. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing.

See our latest analysis for Rhone Ma Holdings Berhad

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. Rhone Ma Holdings Berhad paid out a comfortable 36% of its profit last year. 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. What's good is that dividends were well covered by free cash flow, with the company paying out 18% 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 how much of its profit Rhone Ma Holdings Berhad paid out over the last 12 months.

Have Earnings And Dividends Been Growing?

Stocks with flat earnings can still be attractive dividend payers, but it is important to be more conservative with your approach and demand a greater margin for safety when it comes to dividend sustainability. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. It's not encouraging to see that Rhone Ma Holdings Berhad's earnings are effectively flat over the past five years. Better than seeing them fall off a cliff, for sure, but the best dividend stocks grow their earnings meaningfully over the long run.