Tenox (TSE:1905) Is Increasing Its Dividend To ¥29.00

The board of Tenox Corporation (TSE:1905) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend by 53% on the 30th of June to ¥29.00, up from last year's comparable payment of ¥19.00. This makes the dividend yield about the same as the industry average at 3.4%.

Tenox's Future Dividend Projections Appear Well Covered By Earnings

Solid dividend yields are great, but they only really help us if the payment is sustainable. However, prior to this announcement, Tenox's dividend was comfortably covered by both cash flow and earnings. This means that most of what the business earns is being used to help it grow.

Looking forward, EPS could fall by 4.0% if the company can't turn things around from the last few years. Assuming the dividend continues along recent trends, we believe the payout ratio could be 48%, which we are pretty comfortable with and we think is feasible on an earnings basis.

See our latest analysis for Tenox

Dividend Volatility

Although the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. Since 2015, the dividend has gone from ¥12.00 total annually to ¥40.00. This works out to be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 13% 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.

Tenox May Find It Hard To Grow The Dividend

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 Tenox's EPS has declined at around 4.0% a year. A modest decline in earnings isn't great, and it makes it quite unlikely that the dividend will grow in the future unless that trend can be reversed.

Our Thoughts On Tenox's Dividend

In summary, while it's always good to see the dividend being raised, we don't think Tenox's payments are rock solid. The company is generating plenty of cash, which could maintain the dividend for a while, but the track record hasn't been great. We would probably look elsewhere for an income investment.

Market movements attest to how highly valued a consistent dividend policy is compared to one which is more unpredictable. Meanwhile, despite the importance of dividend payments, they are not the only factors our readers should know when assessing a company. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for Tenox (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) you should know about. If you are a dividend investor, you might also want to look at our curated list of high yield dividend stocks.