Even after they pay tax the cash pile is huge. They simply have...

Even after they pay tax the cash pile is huge. They simply have nothing to spend all that money on. They already have a big cash pile following on from the last financial year. It is unlikely they will pay all 12 months of tax at the end of the financial year; it would likely be half yearly, since that is the frequency at which they calculate their tax obligation.

We should ideally get 70-90% of owner's earnings (after tax earnings) paid out in dividends for this half. Anything lower than that would be disappointing, and no logical excuse could be conjured to warrant retaining all that cash, especially with an overflowing franking credit balance.

I wonder if they could draw on their loan facility to pay dividends with attached (trapped) franking credits and then repay the loan using future pre-tax earnings so to utilise all trapped franking credits. This already sounds illegal as I type it, so it probably is! Anyway, it's a real shame that all those franking credits are trapped within the company, especially the amounts accumulating if large dividends are not paid out.