Dhunseri Tea & Industries Limited (NSE:DHUNTEAIND) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. You will need to purchase shares before the 5th of August to receive the dividend, which will be paid on the 12th of September.

Dhunseri Tea & Industries's next dividend payment will be ₹5.00 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of ₹5.00 to shareholders. Last year's total dividend payments show that Dhunseri Tea & Industries has a trailing yield of 2.8% on the current share price of ₹175. Dividends are a major contributor to investment returns for long term holders, but only if the dividend continues to be paid. So we need to check whether the dividend payments are covered, and if earnings are growing.

See our latest analysis for Dhunseri Tea & Industries

Dividends are typically paid out of company income, so if a company pays out more than it earned, its dividend is usually at a higher risk of being cut. Dhunseri Tea & Industries is paying out just 12% of its profit after tax, which is comfortably low and leaves plenty of breathing room in the case of adverse events. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Dhunseri Tea & Industries generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Thankfully its dividend payments took up just 26% of the free cash flow it generated, which is a comfortable payout ratio.

It's positive to see that Dhunseri Tea & Industries's dividend is covered by both profits and cash flow, since this is generally a sign that the dividend is sustainable, and a lower payout ratio usually suggests a greater margin of safety before the dividend gets cut.

Click here to see how much of its profit Dhunseri Tea & Industries 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 earnings fall far enough, the company could be forced to cut its dividend. It's encouraging to see Dhunseri Tea & Industries has grown its earnings rapidly, up 118% a year for the past five years. Dhunseri Tea & Industries is paying out less than half its earnings and cash flow, while simultaneously growing earnings per share at a rapid clip. This is a very favourable combination that can often lead to the dividend multiplying over the long term, if earnings grow and the company pays out a higher percentage of its earnings.

The main way most investors will assess a company's dividend prospects is by checking the historical rate of dividend growth. Dhunseri Tea & Industries's dividend payments per share have declined at 9.6% per year on average over the past 4 years, which is uninspiring. 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.