There will be many who prefer to keep the dividend intact....

There will be many who prefer to keep the dividend intact. However, conservative is good, imo. Better to have cash on hand if required. Like you say, 10% is still a great yield. If they shell out too much cash now then some investors may just take the money & run (as the balance sheet is weakened). I'd rather own part of a long term viable company than one that potentially needs to borrow more money (or issue more shares) down the track. It's a fine balance. If they can expand out of cashflow & return money to shareholders, without increasing debt load, then they'll bounce hard when the cycle turns back in their favour.