LONDON — If you want to be eligible for a dividend payment, or if you’re watching for possible share-price falls, keeping up with ex-dividend dates can prove beneficial. So long as you hold the shares up to and including that day, you’ll get your money.
We have a number of companies from the FTSE 100 reaching their crucial dates next week. Here are three that will go ex-dividend next Wednesday, June 26.
Compass Group plc (LON:CPG)
Catering and support services firm Compass Group plc (LON:CPG) announced an interim dividend of 8 pence per share along with first-half results on May 15, and that represented an 11% rise on the previous year. Revenue rose by 4.1% to £8.8 billion, with underlying pre-tax profit up 8.1% to £611 million and earnings per share up 11% to 24.5 pence.
If the second-half dividend is lifted by a similar 11%, we should be looking at a full-year payment of 23.6 pence per share for a yield of 2.8% on the current share price of 845 pence. The forward yield would have been more than 3%, had the share price not risen by 30% over the past 12 months.
NEXT plc (LON:NXT)
The same day is final ex-dividend day for high-street clothing chain NEXT plc (LON:NXT). After reporting a 3.1% rise in revenue for the year to January 2013, a 9% rise in underlying pre-tax profit, and a 16.6% boost to underlying EPS, NEXT plc (LON:NXT)declared a final dividend of 74 pence per share.
That takes the full-year payment up 16.7 pence to 105 pence per share and follows NEXT plc (LON:NXT)’s policy of lifting its dividend in line with EPS. With the share price currently at 4,605 pence, the total payment represents a yield of 2.3%.
Tate & Lyle PLC (LON:TATE)
It’s a final dividend for Tate & Lyle PLC (LON:TATE), too, with a payment of 18.8 pence per share to come. The year to March 31 brought in a 6% rise in sales on a constant-currency basis to £3.3 billion, with adjusted pre-tax profit up 4% to £329 million.
Adjusted EPS rose 5% to 57 pence, allowing the firm to lift its full-year dividend by 5.2% to 26.2 pence per share — a yield of 3.2% on today’s share price of 819 pence. The Tate & Lyle PLC (LON:TATE) dividend has been raised for three consecutive years now, and forecasts suggest more of the same for this year and next — but a steadily rising share price has lowered the yield.
Dividends like these can add nicely to your investment returns — they can be spent or reinvested, according to your needs. Whether you’re investing for income or growth, good old cash is always welcome.
The article 3 FTSE 100 Shares Going Ex-Dividend Next Week originally appeared on Fool.com.
Alan Oscroft has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
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