The board of Anpario plc (LON:ANP) has announced that it will be paying its dividend of £0.0735 on the 28th of July, an increased payment from last year's comparable dividend. This makes the dividend yield 4.8%, which is above the industry average.

View our latest analysis for Anpario

Anpario's Payment Has Solid Earnings Coverage

If the payments aren't sustainable, a high yield for a few years won't matter that much. Based on the last payment, Anpario's earnings were much higher than the dividend, but it wasn't converting those earnings into cash flow. No cash flows could definitely make returning cash to shareholders difficult, or at least mean the balance sheet will come under pressure.

Looking forward, could fall by 1.3% if the company can't turn things around from the last few years. However, if the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio could reach 87%, meaning that most of the company's earnings is being paid out to shareholders. historic-dividend

Dividend Volatility

Although the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. The annual payment during the last 10 years was £0.03 in 2013, and the most recent fiscal year payment was £0.105. This means that it has been growing its distributions at 13% per annum over that time. Despite the rapid growth in the dividend over the past number of years, we have seen the payments go down the past as well, so that makes us cautious.

The Dividend's Growth Prospects Are Limited

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. Although it's important to note that Anpario's earnings per share has basically not grown from where it was five years ago, which could erode the purchasing power of the dividend over time.

The Dividend Could Prove To Be Unreliable

Overall, this is probably not a great income stock, even though the dividend is being raised at the moment. While Anpario is earning enough to cover the payments, the cash flows are lacking. 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. For example, we've identified 3 warning signs for Anpario (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing. 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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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