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The board of TT Electronics plc (LON:TTG) has announced that the dividend on 13th of October will be increased to £0.02, which will be 11% higher than last year's payment of £0.018 which covered the same period. This makes the dividend yield 3.1%, which is above the industry average.
Check out our latest analysis for TT Electronics
TT Electronics' Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage
A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained. Prior to this announcement, TT Electronics' dividend was making up a very large proportion of earnings, and the company was also not generating any cash flow to offset this. This is a pretty unsustainable practice, and could be risky if continued for the long term.
Analysts expect a massive rise in earnings per share in the next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate that the payout ratio could reach 27%, which is in a comfortable range for us.
Dividend Volatility
The company has a long dividend track record, but it doesn't look great with cuts in the past. Since 2012, the annual payment back then was £0.032, compared to the most recent full-year payment of £0.056. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 5.8% a year over that time. It's good to see the dividend growing at a decent rate, but the dividend has been cut at least once in the past. TT Electronics might have put its house in order since then, but we remain cautious.
Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Come By
With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share is growing, which could point to a growing dividend in the future. TT Electronics has seen earnings per share falling at 7.2% per year over the last five years. Declining earnings will inevitably lead to the company paying a lower dividend in line with lower profits. Earnings are forecast to grow over the next 12 months and if that happens we could still be a little bit cautious until it becomes a pattern.
TT Electronics' Dividend Doesn't Look Sustainable
Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. The track record isn't great, and the payments are a bit high to be considered sustainable. Overall, we don't think this company has the makings of a good income stock.
Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for TT Electronics that you should be aware of before investing. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.