Question

Select ONE company listed in the energy sector and ONE company listed in the technology sector of the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. Analyse the companies’ dividend payout for the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

(Note: The selected companies should have paid dividends regularly during the five-year period)

Answer 1

The constraints for filtering companies is such that the dividend payout ratio should be non-zero over past 5 years. the screener provides following results

Name	Sector	Price	EPS	DPS	PE	DY	ROE	PTBV	Mcap
DIALOG	Energy, Main Market	3.18	8.6	3.2	36.98	1.01	13.33	4.93	17940.42
YINSON	Energy, Main Market	4.45	21.46	10	20.74	2.25	13.01	2.7	4865.31
DELEUM	Energy, Main Market	1.12	6.77	3.5	16.54	3.12	8.16	1.35	449.26
ELSOFT	Technology, Main Market	1.05	6	4.57	17.51	4.35	35.26	6.18	699.12
VITROX	Technology, Main Market	7.02	22.42	1.75	31.32	0.25	25.51	7.99	3303.49
GTRONIC	Technology, Main Market	1.89	10.48	7.28	18.03	3.85	23.29	4.2	1264.5
INARI	Technology, Main Market	1.59	7.18	6.16	22.14	3.87	20.52	4.54	5036.24
DSONIC	Technology, Main Market	0.45	3.13	2.5	14.36	5.56	16.38	2.35	607.5
FRONTKN	Technology, Main Market	0.93	4.96	1.5	18.75	1.61	16	3	979.7
MMSV	Technology, Main Market	0.975	4.4	1.79	22.14	1.83	15.73	3.48	198.66
EFORCE	Technology, Main Market	0.475	1.6	1.5	29.74	3.16	14.52	4.32	196.88
MPI	Technology, Main Market	9.92	69.81	29	14.21	2.92	10.61	1.51	2082.05
D&O	Technology, Main Market	0.74	3.25	1	22.76	1.35	10.37	2.36	818.29
VSTECS	Technology, Main Market	0.97	13.68	5	7.09	5.15	8.55	0.61	174.6
KESM	Technology, Main Market	9.6	71.15	18.5	13.49	1.93	8.5	1.15	412.94
UNISEM	Technology, Main Market	2.8	13.06	4.5	21.44	1.61	6.64	1.42	2054.73
PRESBHD	Technology, Main Market	0.395	0.15	0.7	271.56	1.77	0.44	1.2	191.18

We will select 1 company each from the above pool for comparing dividends history. The data is as follows-

DIALOG	DIALOG GROUP BERHAD
Announced	Financial Year	Subject	EX Date	Payment Date	Amount
12-Oct-18	30-Jun-18	Final Dividend	26-Nov-18	18-Dec-18	0.018
16-May-18	30-Jun-18	Interim Dividend	12-Jun-18	28-Jun-18	0.014
24-Oct-17	30-Jun-17	Final Dividend	29-Nov-17	20-Dec-17	0.0145
16-May-17	30-Jun-17	Interim Dividend	9-Jun-17	29-Jun-17	0.012
24-Oct-16	30-Jun-16	Final Dividend	30-Nov-16	20-Dec-16	0.012
18-May-16	30-Jun-16	Interim Dividend	10-Jun-16	28-Jun-16	0.01
26-Oct-15	30-Jun-15	Final Dividend	25-Nov-15	17-Dec-15	0.012
12-May-15	30-Jun-15	Interim Dividend	10-Jun-15	25-Jun-15	0.01
27-Oct-14	30-Jun-14	Final Dividend	26-Nov-14	18-Dec-14	0.011
15-May-14	30-Jun-14	Interim Dividend	10-Jun-14	26-Jun-14	0.011
28-Oct-13	30-Jun-13	Final Dividend	27-Nov-13	19-Dec-13	0.022
15-May-13	30-Jun-13	Interim Dividend	10-Jun-13	27-Jun-13	0.012
Financial Year	Revenue ('000)	Net ('000)	EPS	DPS	Dividend payout ratio
30 Jun, 2018	3,110,579	510,371	9.06	0.032	0.35%
30 Jun, 2017	3,392,884	370,644	6.87	0.0265	0.39%
30 Jun, 2016	2,534,483	294,929	5.7	0.022	0.39%
30 Jun, 2015	2,358,183	275,130	5.55	0.022	0.40%
30 Jun, 2014	2,551,690	215,869	8.92	0.022	0.25%
30 Jun, 2013	2,237,180	193,298	8.15	0.034	0.42%
			Total DPS-	0.1585	0.0000%	-Variance
EFORCE	EXCEL FORCE MSC BERHAD
Announced	Financial Year	Subject	EX Date	Payment Date	Amount
23-Nov-18	31-Dec-18	Second interim dividend	6-Dec-18	20-Dec-18	0.0075
28-Aug-18	31-Dec-18	Interim Dividend	12-Sep-18	28-Sep-18	0.0075
19-May-17	31-Dec-17	Second interim dividend	31-May-17	16-Jun-17	0.015
24-Feb-17	31-Dec-17	First Interim Dividend	9-Mar-17	28-Mar-17	0.01
31-May-16	31-Dec-16	Second interim dividend	15-Jun-16	1-Jul-16	0.01
25-Feb-16	31-Dec-16	Interim Dividend	9-Mar-16	25-Mar-16	0.01
20-Nov-15	31-Dec-15	Interim Dividend	4-Dec-15	23-Dec-15	0.01
26-May-15	31-Dec-15	Second interim dividend	10-Jun-15	30-Jun-15	0.01
24-Feb-15	31-Dec-15	First Interim Dividend	9-Mar-15	31-Mar-15	0.01
21-Nov-14	31-Dec-14	Second interim dividend	4-Dec-14	22-Dec-14	0.01
25-Feb-14	31-Dec-14	First Interim Dividend	12-Mar-14	28-Mar-14	0.015
3-Sep-13	31-Dec-13	Second interim dividend	17-Sep-13	10-Oct-13	0.025
30-May-13	31-Dec-13	First Interim Dividend	14-Jun-13	8-Jul-13	0.015
Financial Year	Revenue ('000)	Net ('000)	EPS	DPS	Dividend payout ratio
31 Dec, 2018	22,939	6,620	1.6	0.015	0.94%
31 Dec, 2017	22,919	6,324	1.93	0.025	1.30%
31 Dec, 2016	22,473	5,630	2.72	0.02	0.74%
31 Dec, 2015	25,280	7,551	3.65	0.03	0.82%
31 Dec, 2014	21,874	8,628	4.17	0.025	0.60%
31 Dec, 2013	20,626	7,001	3.38	0.04	1.18%
			Total DPS-	0.155	0.0007%	-Variance

Observations-

For Dialog which is operating in energy sector, the dividend payout ratio is a bit lower than Excel. However, it has been steadier than the other has. It might be expected as the companies operating in energy sector have a more stable income and operating model. The companies operating in tech sector have a higher growth and often, this growth is in bursts. This is reflected in its dividend payout where we can see periods where the dividend payout ratio is very unpredictable. In some periods, it is over 1% while in some periods, it is close to 0.5%. The dividend payout in the energy sector on the other hand is very steady. The variance in dividend payout ratio for energy sector is very low, almost 0. On the other hand, the variance in the dividend payout ratio for company in the technology sector is higher. Interestingly, the total dividend paid by both the companies in this period is almost equal. The tech company has paid more interim dividends but no final dividends. The company in the energy sector has paid steady interim and final dividend.