Owners of Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) shares can take some happiness from the fact that while the ASX retail share has suffered a 10% share price fall since 16 August, the business will soon offset some of that pain with its upcoming dividend.
The company recently released its FY23 result which came with the announcement of the latest Coles payout.
What was announced?
In terms of the overall continuing operations, Coles said its sales revenue increased by 5.9% to $40.5 billion. At the same time, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) climbed by 3.8% to $3.38 billion, earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) grew 1.8% to $1.86 billion, and net profit after tax (NPAT) dropped 0.3% to $1.04 billion.
While the company's total dividend per share was increased by 4.8% for the financial year to 66 cents per share, the final dividend was maintained at 30 cents per share.
Coles ex-dividend details
The ex-dividend date is important for ASX shares because it tells prospective investors when owners of shares will no longer be entitled to the dividend. There has to be a cut-off point between possible buyers and sellers for who gets the dividend.
According to Coles, the ex-dividend date for the FY23 final dividend is 1 September 2023. That means interested investors need to own shares by the end of trading on Thursday 31 August 2023, which is tomorrow.
Owners of Coles shares won't have long to wait to get the dividend because the payment date is 27 September 2023.
Coles offers a dividend reinvestment plan (DRP), which enables shareholders to elect to receive more Coles shares rather than a dividend as their payment. The DRP election date deadline is 5 September 2023, at 5pm.
How large is the yield?
At the current Coles share price, the upcoming 30 cents per share dividend will, by itself, have a grossed-up dividend yield of 2.7%. The full-year dividend for FY23 equates to a grossed-up dividend yield of 5.9%.
According to Commsec, the current projection is that the profit and dividend per share may dip in FY24 amid higher costs for the business. The FY24 full-year dividend projection is 61 cents per share, which would represent a grossed-up dividend yield of 5.4%.
