So Vodafone’s
final results were out this morning and contrary to what I believed they have
again increased their dividend. They did see overall revenue down by 4.2% which
just highlights the difficulties they are experiencing in finding growth in
their markets.
They have
announced though that they are to give a final dividend of 6.92 pence per share
making a full year dividend of 10.19 pence which is up 7.0% on the year, very
healthy. This underpins their dividend policy to date.
Going
forward however things are expected to soften, Vodafone’s dividend has
increased by 22% in the last three years. The board has announced though that
at the current levels they will focus on maintaining the dividend at current
levels. This is not a dividend policy a dividend growth investor wants to read.
Maintaining the dividend at these levels indefinitely is a shame and is a bit
of a deterrent from my point of view.
No mention
of a sale of Verizon either which may disappoint Vodafone investors as they were
hoping for a possible windfall from that sale. Vodafone will receive a dividend
of £2.1 billion from Verizon however, this will be held in the business and won’t
be distributed.
Following
the news of the dividend policy I will remain on the sidelines.
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