The Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL) dividend has just been announced along with the FY23 result.
Pleasingly for shareholders, it was another year of strong dividend growth, making it 23 years of consecutive annual dividend growth.
Let's look at some of the main details about the upcoming payment.
Soul Pattinson dividend
The company's board decided to declare a final dividend per share of 51 cents, which represented a year-over-year increase of 18.6%.
This brought the full-year ordinary dividend to 87 cents per share, which was a year-over-year increase of 20.8%.
The business funds its dividend from the cash flow it receives from its investment portfolio. Net cash flow from investments rose 22% to $424.3 million, and in per-share terms, net cash flow from investments increased 22.9% to $1.18.
That means the annual cash dividend payout ratio is 73.7%, meaning it's retaining plenty of cash to invest in more opportunities in FY24 and beyond.
In terms of the important dates for the upcoming Soul Pattinson dividend, it has an ex-dividend date of 17 November 2023. That means investors need to own shares before 17 November 2023 to gain entitlement, so investors have until the end of trading on 16 November 2023.
The 51 cents per share dividend will be paid on 12 December 2023.
Profit and net asset value
Statutory net profit after tax (NPAT) rose $703.6 million to $690.7 million, though regular profit decreased 9% to $759.3 million.
The underlying value of Soul Pattinson, as measured by the pre-tax net asset value (NAV), grew by 8.8% to $10.8 billion.
At the start of FY24, the total portfolio's NAV outperformed the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index (ASX: XAOA) by 3.9% for the month of August.
Soul Pattinson has entered FY24 with more than $500 million of commitments across private market investments, along with a "solid pipeline of opportunities."
Soul Pattinson share price snapshot
Over the past year, Soul Pattinson shares have risen by 26%, while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has only gone up by 8.7%.
