Why ask for a dividend? Because that's what stable companies...

Why ask for a dividend? Because that's what stable companies making a profit do, they reward part owners in the company with part of the profits.
Paying a dividend pays respect to the sharesholders by treating them as actual part owners of the company that they are.
Paying a dividend helps ensure the company is taken seriously in the market and attracts the bigger players looking for consistent returns.
A rising share price is NOT a consistent return, share price is always volatile, and refusing to pay a dividend and effectively asking your shareholders to sell out and REDUCE their shareholding and ownership in the company in order to get part of the profits is just pretty darn rude.