TA chart, page-516

Just thinking about the upcoming result, BAL has no debt, growing sales, growing profit and growing cash, so Friday might be a good opportunity to start rewarding shareholders with a decent lift in dividend.
If there's one thing that scares the crap out of shorts it's a raise in the dividend, since the shorts have to repay the dividend AND franking when it goes ex. Alternatively, if they don't increase the div, they may be building a war chest for an acquisition.
Neither action leads to a lazy balance sheet, which inevitably becomes a big target for an acquirer, who can purchase the brand AND a heap of cash.
Time for some capital management IMO