Goldlion Holdings (HKG:533) Will Pay A Dividend Of HK$0.04

The board of Goldlion Holdings Limited (HKG:533) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 13th of June, with investors receiving HK$0.04 per share. The dividend yield of 7.4% is still a nice boost to shareholder returns, despite the cut.

See our latest analysis for Goldlion Holdings

Goldlion Holdings' Earnings Easily Cover The Distributions

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Based on the last dividend, Goldlion Holdings is earning enough to cover the payment, but then it makes up 320% of cash flows. While the company may be more focused on returning cash to shareholders than growing the business at this time, we think that a cash payout ratio this high might expose the dividend to being cut if the business ran into some challenges.

Unless the company can turn things around, EPS could fall by 20.8% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could be 70%, which we consider to be quite comfortable, with most of the company's earnings left over to grow the business in the future.

Dividend Volatility

The company's dividend history has been marked by instability, with at least one cut in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was HK$0.27 in 2014, and the most recent fiscal year payment was HK$0.075. Dividend payments have fallen sharply, down 72% over that time. Generally, we don't like to see a dividend that has been declining over time as this can degrade shareholders' returns and indicate that the company may be running into problems.

The Dividend Has Limited Growth Potential

Given that dividend payments have been shrinking like a glacier in a warming world, we need to check if there are some bright spots on the horizon. Goldlion Holdings' earnings per share has shrunk at 21% a year over the past five years. A sharp decline in earnings per share is not great from from a dividend perspective. Even conservative payout ratios can come under pressure if earnings fall far enough.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

Overall, it's not great to see that the dividend has been cut, but this might be explained by the payments being a bit high previously. While Goldlion Holdings is earning enough to cover the payments, the cash flows are lacking. We would be a touch cautious of relying on this stock primarily for the dividend income.

Investors generally tend to favour companies with a consistent, stable dividend policy as opposed to those operating an irregular one. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Just as an example, we've come across 3 warning signs for Goldlion Holdings you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored. Is Goldlion Holdings not quite the opportunity you were looking for? Why not check out our selection of top 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.