GGBL to pay dividend this year despite earnings contraction

GGBL has declared a dividend for the third consecutive year in respect of the 2020 financial year.

However, the dividend per share of GH¢0.0138 is 52.9 percent lower than the dividend of GHc 0.0293 declared in the previous year.

The lower dividend was driven by a contraction in earnings by 32.6 percent year on year to GH¢12.16 million in 2020 from GH¢18.05 million in 2019.

The company is expected to pay a total dividend of GH¢4.24 million to investors given its 307.59 million issued shares. This would reflect a dividend pay-out ratio of nearly 35 percent in 2020, down from nearly 50 percent last year.

The dividend of GH¢0.0138 per share reflects a dividend yield of 1.4 percent based on the company’s prevailing market price of GH¢1.00 per share.

While the dividend yield is low, it is still commendable in a market that many stocks do not pay dividend consistently. Like the saying goes “in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”

GGBL has consequently announced that the company’s directors will be recommending to the shareholders at the upcoming Annual General Meeting, the payment of a final dividend of GHc0.0138 per share for the financial year ended 30th June, 2020.

All shareholders registered in the books of GGBL at the close of business on Monday, 2nd November, 2020 will qualify for the final dividend.

The Register of shareholders will be closed on Tuesday, 3rd November, 2020

In view of this, the ex-dividend date has been set as Thursday, 29th October, 2020. Consequently, an investor purchasing GGBL shares before this date will be entitled to the final dividend.

However, an investor buying GGBL shares on or after Thursday, 29th October, 2020 will not be entitled to the final dividend.

The final dividend will be paid from Friday, 4th December 2020