Yahoo Finance Synthomer's (LON:SYNT) Upcoming Dividend Will Be Larger Than Last Year's
Synthomer plc (LON:SYNT) will increase its dividend on the 5th of July to UK£0.21. This will take the dividend yield from 9.9% to 9.9%, providing a nice boost to shareholder returns.
Check out our latest analysis for Synthomer
Synthomer Doesn't Earn Enough To Cover Its Payments
A big dividend yield for a few years doesn't mean much if it can't be sustained. The last dividend was quite easily covered by Synthomer's earnings. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.
EPS is set to fall by 32.6% over the next 12 months. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could reach 111%, which could put the dividend under pressure if earnings don't start to improve.
Dividend Volatility
The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least 1 cut in the last 10 years. Since 2012, the dividend has gone from UK£0.024 to UK£0.30. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 29% per annum over that time. Despite the rapid growth in the dividend over the past number of years, we have seen the payments go down the past as well, so that makes us cautious.
We Could See Synthomer's Dividend Growing
Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. We are encouraged to see that Synthomer has grown earnings per share at 6.6% per year over the past five years. Earnings are on the uptrend, and it is only paying a small portion of those earnings to shareholders.
We'd also point out that Synthomer has issued stock equal to 10% of shares outstanding. Trying to grow the dividend when issuing new shares reminds us of the ancient Greek tale of Sisyphus - perpetually pushing a boulder uphill. Companies that consistently issue new shares are often suboptimal from a dividend perspective.
Our Thoughts On Synthomer's Dividend
Overall, this is a reasonable dividend, and it being raised is an added bonus. The dividend has been at reasonable levels historically, but that hasn't translated into a consistent payment. Taking all of this into consideration, the dividend looks viable moving forward, but investors should be mindful that the company has pushed the boundaries of sustainability in the past and may do so again.
Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. At the same time, there are other factors our readers should be conscious of before pouring capital into a stock. For example, we've identified 4 warning signs for Synthomer (1 is a bit unpleasant!) that you should be aware of before investing. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
