If they were to do a buy back, they could stop the dividend with...

If they were to do a buy back, they could stop the dividend with that money.

The alternative is to just use your own dividend to buy more shares yourself.

The main problem is this business isn’t generating that much cash 2H, they don’t know how much of a loss it could make and don’t want to risk blowing it up by taking on a lot of debt/ being forced issue more shares at depressed prices to raise capital or dilute ownership. The chairman would see to that, he owns 5% of the company.
Borrowed debt at >7% interest rates isn’t ideal, nor is diluting shareholders.

I think they are scared if they cut the dividend altogether it would upset shareholders tbh.

I just have plenty of cash so I don’t need to sell my shares for cash anytime soon. I hold this as a long term 3-5 year play, bar any take overs if I average down my price it reduces my risk of being burnt in a take over.

When I have extra cash I will buy more, but not for now, I don’t want to risk into being forced selling my position at a loss so I’m accruing cash.

It is making me re-think the cyclical nature of this business though, as the next economic downturn whenever that is ( I guess in the next 7-12 years) it will likely cut the dividend again and I will need other dividend paying businesses to even out these lumps/ reduced income during these times.