Читать книгу The Dividend Investor - Rodney Hobson - Страница 30

There are no hard and fast rules as to how much of the total dividend should be paid at the interim stage and how much should be held back for the final.

Some companies, such as package holiday suppliers and some retailers, depend heavily on a particular time of year. They tend to put the better trading period into the second half, thereby seeing the results for the full year before deciding on the size of the final dividend.

As a rough guide, companies making two payments a year tend to pay one-third of the total at the halfway stage and two-thirds at the final stage. Companies paying four dividends a year usually spread the payments more evenly and may actually make four equal payments.

One should not draw inferences from the differing policies regarding the weighting of the dividend. What matters is that the company pays them, and pays according to a consistent policy year by year.