SPRIX (TSE:7030) Is Paying Out A Dividend Of ¥19.00

SPRIX Inc. (TSE:7030) has announced that it will pay a dividend of ¥19.00 per share on the 5th of June. The dividend yield will be 4.7% based on this payment which is still above the industry average.

Check out our latest analysis for SPRIX

SPRIX 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. Before making this announcement, SPRIX's was paying out quite a large proportion of earnings and 83% of free cash flows. This is usually an indication that the focus of the company is returning cash to shareholders rather than reinvesting it for growth.

If the company can't turn things around, EPS could fall by 8.3% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could reach 108%, which could put the dividend in jeopardy if the company's earnings don't improve.

SPRIX Doesn't Have A Long Payment History

The dividend has been pretty stable looking back, but the company hasn't been paying one for very long. This makes it tough to judge how it would fare through a full economic cycle. The dividend has gone from an annual total of ¥30.00 in 2020 to the most recent total annual payment of ¥38.00. This implies that the company grew its distributions at a yearly rate of about 6.1% over that duration. The dividend has been growing as a reasonable rate, which we like. However, investors will probably want to see a longer track record before they consider SPRIX to be a consistent dividend paying stock.

Dividend Growth May Be Hard To Come By

Investors could be attracted to the stock based on the quality of its payment history. However, initial appearances might be deceiving. It's not great to see that SPRIX's earnings per share has fallen at approximately 8.3% per year over the past five years. A modest decline in earnings isn't great, and it makes it quite unlikely that the dividend will grow in the future unless that trend can be reversed.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

In summary, while it's good to see that the dividend hasn't been cut, we are a bit cautious about SPRIX's payments, as there could be some issues with sustaining them into the future. The track record isn't great, and the payments are a bit high to be considered sustainable. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

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. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for SPRIX (of which 1 can't be ignored!) you should know about. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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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.