09-03-2025
Income Investors Should Know That Kitwave Group plc (LON:KITW) Goes Ex-Dividend Soon
Kitwave Group plc (LON:KITW) is about to trade ex-dividend in the next 3 days. The ex-dividend date is usually set to be two business days before the record date, which is the cut-off date on which you must be present on the company's books as a shareholder in order to receive the dividend. The ex-dividend date is an important date to be aware of as any purchase of the stock made on or after this date might mean a late settlement that doesn't show on the record date. Therefore, if you purchase Kitwave Group's shares on or after the 13th of March, you won't be eligible to receive the dividend, when it is paid on the 25th of April.
The company's next dividend payment will be UK£0.0745 per share, and in the last 12 months, the company paid a total of UK£0.11 per share. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Kitwave Group has a trailing yield of 4.4% on the current stock price of UK£2.575. Dividends are an important source of income to many shareholders, but the health of the business is crucial to maintaining those dividends. So we need to investigate whether Kitwave Group can afford its dividend, and if the dividend could grow.
Check out our latest analysis for Kitwave Group
If a company pays out more in dividends than it earned, then the dividend might become unsustainable - hardly an ideal situation. That's why it's good to see Kitwave Group paying out a modest 31% of its earnings. A useful secondary check can be to evaluate whether Kitwave Group generated enough free cash flow to afford its dividend. Fortunately, it paid out only 33% of its free cash flow in the past year.
It's encouraging to see that the dividend is covered by both profit and cash flow. This generally suggests the dividend is sustainable, as long as earnings don't drop precipitously.
Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends.
Companies with falling earnings are riskier for dividend shareholders. Investors love dividends, so if earnings fall and the dividend is reduced, expect a stock to be sold off heavily at the same time. Kitwave Group's earnings per share have plummeted approximately 62% a year over the previous five years.
We'd also point out that Kitwave Group issued a meaningful number of new shares in the past year. Trying to grow the dividend while issuing large amounts of new shares reminds us of the ancient Greek tale of Sisyphus - perpetually pushing a boulder uphill.
Another key way to measure a company's dividend prospects is by measuring its historical rate of dividend growth. In the past four years, Kitwave Group has increased its dividend at approximately 26% a year on average.
Has Kitwave Group got what it takes to maintain its dividend payments? Earnings per share are down meaningfully, although at least the company is paying out a low and conservative percentage of both its earnings and cash flow. It's definitely not great to see earnings falling, but at least there may be some buffer before the dividend needs to be cut. In summary, it's hard to get excited about Kitwave Group from a dividend perspective.
In light of that, while Kitwave Group has an appealing dividend, it's worth knowing the risks involved with this stock. In terms of investment risks, we've identified 2 warning signs with Kitwave Group and understanding them should be part of your investment process.
If you're in the market for strong dividend payers, we recommend checking our selection of top dividend stocks.
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