One of the most generous dividend payers on the JSE?

From Moneyweb


ALEC HOGG: In this special podcast, we speak with Rian du Plessis who is the chief executive of Phumelela. Interim results out today for the six months to the end of January - Rian you’ve got to be one of the most generous dividend payers on the whole of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Your headline earnings are down but once again you’ve maintained your dividend and it’s interesting to look back - in 2008 when you made 117 cents for the year you paid a 68 cents dividend - that’s come all the way down and last year you made 79 cents. It looks like you might make even less this year, yet you’re maintaining that dividend. Isn’t there a point in time when you’re going to perhaps have to cut it?

RIAN DU PLESSIS: Well naturally, if profits continue to decline, we will have to cut our dividend because we’re not going to be paying dividends out of reserves, but looking forward we’re still confident that we’ll make good profits this year and that there’s no reason that our shareholders should suffer a decrease in dividends.Full Article and Podcast

I take my dividents daily X(

Maybe what Rian should have said (lol) was this ;

Well, Alec, as long as we have breeders and owners willing to naively breed and fund the industry's raw material whilst mainly sustaining losses we should be able to maintain a fairly generous dividend.

We will possibly be looking at further stakes cuts as there has been precious little meaningful resistance to the last round if you ignore the inevitable five minutes of fury from the chat forums.

My advice to the general public would be - Buy our shares and let someone else buy the horses.

....................................and if all else fails,we shall continue the strategy of asset stripping to subsidise any shortfalls!

It is quite simple, they can pay such generous dividends as there is no investment back into the industry, with most race courses on care and maintenance only. Nobody is fooled by this and the real trend to watch is the earnings per share from which the dividends are paid.