Eurocell's (LON:ECEL) Shareholders Will Receive A Bigger Dividend Than Last Year

The board of Eurocell plc (LON:ECEL) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend by 13% on the 17th of May to £0.072, up from last year's comparable payment of £0.064. This makes the dividend yield 7.0%, which is above the industry average.

Check out our latest analysis for Eurocell

Eurocell Doesn't Earn Enough To Cover Its Payments

While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. The last dividend was quite easily covered by Eurocell's earnings. This means that a large portion of its earnings are being retained to grow the business.

Looking forward, earnings per share is forecast to fall by 50.3% over the next year. If the dividend continues along the path it has been on recently, the payout ratio in 12 months could be 104%, which is definitely a bit high to be sustainable going forward.

Eurocell's Dividend Has Lacked Consistency

Even in its relatively short history, the company has reduced the dividend at least once. Due to this, we are a little bit cautious about the dividend consistency over a full economic cycle. The dividend has gone from an annual total of £0.054 in 2016 to the most recent total annual payment of £0.099. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 9.0% per annum over that time. We have seen cuts in the past, so while the growth looks promising we would be a little bit cautious about its track record.

Eurocell May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

Growing earnings per share could be a mitigating factor when considering the past fluctuations in the dividend. Unfortunately, Eurocell's earnings per share has been essentially flat over the past five years, which means the dividend may not be increased each year.

Our Thoughts On Eurocell's Dividend

In summary, while it's always good to see the dividend being raised, we don't think Eurocell's payments are rock solid. The payments haven't been particularly stable and we don't see huge growth potential, but with the dividend well covered by cash flows it could prove to be reliable over the short term. We don't think Eurocell is a great stock to add to your portfolio if income is your focus.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. Just as an example, we've come across 2 warning signs for Eurocell you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit unpleasant. 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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