Marui Group's (TSE:8252) Shareholders Will Receive A Bigger Dividend Than Last Year

Marui Group Co., Ltd. (TSE:8252) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 26th of June to ¥66.00. This will take the dividend yield to an attractive 4.2%, providing a nice boost to shareholder returns.

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Marui Group's Payment Could Potentially Have Solid Earnings Coverage

While it is great to have a strong dividend yield, we should also consider whether the payment is sustainable. Prior to this announcement, Marui Group's dividend was making up a very large proportion of earnings, and the company was also not generating any cash flow to offset this. We think that this practice can make the dividend quite risky in the future.

EPS is set to grow by 7.7% over the next year. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could reach 86%, which is on the higher side, but certainly still feasible.

Check out our latest analysis for Marui Group

Dividend Volatility

Although the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was ¥18.00 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was ¥130.00. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 22% a year over that time. It is great to see strong growth in the dividend payments, but cuts are concerning as it may indicate the payout policy is too ambitious.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

With a relatively unstable dividend, it's even more important to evaluate if earnings per share is growing, which could point to a growing dividend in the future. It's encouraging to see that Marui Group has been growing its earnings per share at 11% a year over the past five years. Recently, the company has been able to grow earnings at a decent rate, but with the payout ratio on the higher end we don't think the dividend has many prospects for growth.

In Summary

Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. While the low payout ratio is a redeeming feature, this is offset by the minimal cash to cover the payments. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. For example, we've identified 2 warning signs for Marui Group (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable!) 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.