I've been doing some work to backward engineer the EPS for the half to get a better read on the Q2 performance. I suspect the market is being cautious to fully interpret the interim dividend until they see the HY results. Based on my rough calcs (after adjusting for the impact of minorities), if the payout ratio for the half was about 70% or less, it would reflect earnings growth in Q2 versus Q1. Anything higher than 70% and we likely saw a modest earnings decline in Q2 versus Q1. Given historical payout ratios have been anywhere from 65%-80%, its difficult to tell, but I would be surprised if they elected to payout much above 70% for the first half given the precedent this would set and that the market won't reward it. In any case, the 1.8c dividend suggests confidence by mgt and is a healthy 33% increase on 2020 on an annualised basis.
ASH Price at posting:
44.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)