Gränges (STO:GRNG) Is Paying Out A Larger Dividend Than Last Year

The board of Gränges AB (publ) (STO:GRNG) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend on the 11th of May to kr2.25. Although the dividend is now higher, the yield is only 2.4%, which is below the industry average.

View our latest analysis for Gränges

Gränges' Earnings Easily Cover the Distributions

While yield is important, another factor to consider about a company's dividend is whether the current payout levels are feasible. Based on the last dividend, Gränges is earning enough to cover the payment, but the it makes up 157% 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.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 50.0%. If the dividend continues on this path, the payout ratio could be 26% by next year, which we think can be pretty sustainable going forward.

Gränges' Dividend Has Lacked Consistency

Gränges has been paying dividends for a while, but the track record isn't stellar. This makes us cautious about the consistency of the dividend over a full economic cycle. The first annual payment during the last 7 years was kr1.50 in 2015, and the most recent fiscal year payment was kr2.25. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 6.0% per annum over that time. A reasonable rate of dividend growth is good to see, but we're wary that the dividend history is not as solid as we'd like, having been cut at least once.

Dividend Growth Is Doubtful

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. Over the past five years, it looks as though Gränges' EPS has declined at around 5.7% a year. If earnings continue declining, the company may have to make the difficult choice of reducing the dividend or even stopping it completely - the opposite of dividend growth. It's not all bad news though, as the earnings are predicted to rise over the next 12 months - we would just be a bit cautious until this can turn into a longer term trend.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

In summary, while it's always good to see the dividend being raised, we don't think Gränges' payments are rock solid. With cash flows lacking, it is difficult to see how the company can sustain a dividend payment. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

It's important to note that companies having a consistent dividend policy will generate greater investor confidence than those having an erratic one. Still, investors need to consider a host of other factors, apart from dividend payments, when analysing a company. For example, we've picked out 4 warning signs for Gränges that investors should know about before committing capital to this stock. 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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