In regards to whether it's better for companies to give...

In regards to whether it's better for companies to give dividends or retain earnings and reinvest it in the business, both theories have their merits.

With regards to dividends, as investors we like to see companies return a portion of earnings to us if they don't need it (as you said if they have no other major reinvestment ideas) because otherwise that money just sits as cash on the balance sheet and just yields 1%-2% in interest in a long term savings account or treasury bonds. When a lot of us say we like receiving a portion of this cash as dividends over the company holding onto it as cash when they have no plans to use it, we are looking at the opportunity cost of having 1%-2% growth in interest rather than being able to reinvest that money ourselves at an average long-term market rate of around 9%.

Then there are the retirees. There are a lot of retirees that live off the dividends and use it as their income. Thanks to the imputation system, as they are in the bottom tax bracket, they recieve the franked portion of the dividend as well. It has to be noted that one of the other reasons American companies don't favour giving dividends is that they have no imputation system meaning their shareholders are double taxed on their dividends. As owners of the company they pay tax when the company makes a profit and they pay taxes when the company distributes their share of the profit through a dividend, double tax. Without wanting to get too political, in the recent election Labor wanted to get rid of this fantastic system. Given that we live in a country where (according to UNSW) the poverty rate for people over 65 is 43% (one of the highest in the first world), this would have exacerbated the problem. Thank God Labor didn't win.

If there is an avenue for Beacon to reinvest money back into the business (and I expect there will be ample opportunity for that) that will potentially compound at a faster rate then I could compound it reinvesting in the market then I'm happy to support that, but don't forget that we live in one of the best countries in the world with an amazing imputation system, dividends are fine with me.