At the AGM on 3 November 2017 Chairman Jennifer Hill-Ling said that [on the assumption of a second half trading profit] “ We will then be in a position to review our ability to pay a franked dividend after the FY 18 results have been finalised.”
There has been no change to guidance of a 2H trading profit, or to that position statement on the dividend. On that basis, I expect them to pay a fully franked final dividend. With 230m shares in issue 1 cent is entirely possible.
Interestingly, they paid 7 cents as recently as 2014 on the same set of businesses, so if the earnings recovery does continue, there’s plenty of dividend upside as well as capital gain.
Let’s see next week.
HIL Price at posting:
20.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
