K-Bro Linen (TSE:KBL) Will Pay A Dividend Of CA$0.10

The board of K-Bro Linen Inc. (TSE:KBL) has announced that it will pay a dividend of CA$0.10 per share on the 14th of July. Based on this payment, the dividend yield on the company's stock will be 3.9%, which is an attractive boost to shareholder returns.

Check out our latest analysis for K-Bro Linen

K-Bro Linen's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

Impressive dividend yields are good, but this doesn't matter much if the payments can't be sustained. Prior to this announcement, the company was paying out 202% of what it was earning and 87% of cash flows. While the cash payout ratio isn't necessarily a cause for concern, the company is probably focusing more on returning cash to shareholders than growing the business.

According to analysts, EPS should be several times higher next year. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate that the payout ratio could reach 36%, which is in a comfortable range for us.

K-Bro Linen Has A Solid Track Record

The company has an extended history of paying stable dividends. The annual payment during the last 10 years was CA$1.15 in 2013, and the most recent fiscal year payment was CA$1.20. Dividend payments have been growing, but very slowly over the period. Slow and steady dividend growth might not sound that exciting, but dividends have been stable for ten years, which we think makes this a fairly attractive offer.

K-Bro Linen May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

The company's investors will be pleased to have been receiving dividend income for some time. Earnings have grown at around 2.4% a year for the past five years, which isn't massive but still better than seeing them shrink. With such low earnings growth, paying out more than double what it is earning is setting up K-Bro Linen to have to cut earnings in the future.

K-Bro Linen's Dividend Doesn't Look Sustainable

In summary, while it's good to see that the dividend hasn't been cut, we are a bit cautious about K-Bro Linen's payments, as there could be some issues with sustaining them into the future. Although they have been consistent in the past, we think the payments are a little high to be sustained. Overall, we don't think this company has the makings of a good income stock.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. As an example, we've identified 1 warning sign for K-Bro Linen that you should be aware of before investing. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.