Hey everyone, so while I work on the next video for the Before You Invest series, I
wanted to take a quick look at all the ASX stocks that have reduced, deferred or cancelled
their dividend payments this year.
2020 has been quite a dumpster year for a lot of company earnings and there has been
a lot of high profile dividend cuts and cancellations by very well known stocks.
So this is the full list of companies that have publicly announced their dividend intentions
within the ASX 100 as of September 2020.
Let’s jump right in.
We’ll order this list by sector and then market cap from highest to lowest, and not
surprisingly, the top spots are taken up by the big four banks and some smaller ones who
are all hurting from loan deferrals and defaults from the loss of the borrower’s wages and
employment.
We have CBA cutting its dividend from $2.31 down to $0.98, a cut of 58%.
Westpac bank is the only one that has completely cancelled its dividend, probably to conserve
cash to pay its fine in the money laundering scandal.
NAB has cut its dividend from $0.83 down to $0.30, a cut of 64%
And ANZ cutting from $0.80 down to $0.25, a cut of 69%
Investment bank Macquarie Bank was also not immune to the effects and have also cut from
$3.60 down to $1.80, a cut of 50%.
Suncorp bank has deferred its dividend but are still yet to announce their intentions
for their payout coming up soon, and is also highly likely to cut.
Next up is the toll road operator Transurban Group who have suffered from the transition
of people working from home and not driving, and if they are driving, there were so little
cars on the roads that using the toll had little to no benefit for reducing driving
time.
TCL have cut dividends from $0.30 down to $0.16, a cut of 46%
Another sector that has been hurting recently are the insurance companies, which, in Australian
market, also had to deal with the Australian bushfires.
QBE has cut dividends from $0.25 down to just $0.04 per share, a massive cut of 84%.
IAG though, has completely cancelled its dividend for the first time in 20 years.
The most affected sector during all of these is in travel.
WIth pretty much every single stock in this sector completely cancelling its dividends.
Starting from Sydney Airport, cancelled.
Auckland International Airport, cancelled.
Qantas, originally going to be just deferred, but then got cancelled, understandably.
Also, these stocks aren’t in the top 100, it's still worthy to pay attention to these
so we have an understanding of the magnitude of the issue:
Flight Centre, cancelled Webjet, cancelled
Probably the second most affected industry is any stocks with interests in property,
especially if they have an exposure to retail property.
So for Scentre Group, final dividend payment is cancelled as expected.
Mirvac Group have cut dividends from $0.063 down to $0.03, a cut of 52%.
They are the only ones paying any sort of decent dividends in this sector.
Lendlease, has cut dividends from $0.30 all the way down to $0.033, a huge cut of almost
90%.
That’s pretty much as close to cancelling as you can get.
Crown Resorts, has also cancelled their dividends as expected.
Vincity Centres, has cancelled their dividends as expected.
Next up, let’s have a look at the beverages stocks.
Coca-Cola Amatil hasn’t been able to sell high-profit margin drinks to pubs and restaurants
and so as a result have reduced the dividend payout as well.
Down from $0.25 to only $0.09 per share, a cut of 64%
Treasury Wines Estates on the other hand is caught up in a political war than anything
else and have also reduced dividends from $0.20 down to $0.08, a cut of 60%.
Finally, the last couple of stocks don’t fit in any categories so let’s just finish
up with them.
Tabcorp, which has seen a big reduction in punters simply because people don't have any
spare cash to spend, has cancelled its dividend payout.
Seek Limited, has also seen a big reduction in job listings and as a result lost a good
chunk of its listing revenue.
They have also cancelled their dividend payout.
So that’s the full list of dividend stocks on the ASX top 100 list that have cancelled
or reduced their dividends this year so far.
I don’t think any of these are surprises so if you’re a dividend investor looking
to invest, it may be worthwhile to look for other stocks for now until things go back
to normal.
For example, JB Hi Fi has actually increased its dividend this year after a blockbuster
sales period for them, and Mineral Resources also had a massive year of earnings and have
more than doubled its dividend payment.
So there are exceptions to the doom and gloom of 2020, and we can still find little gems
like that.
Thanks for watching guys, and I’ll see you in the next video.