D&L Industries Inc. expects better results in the second qurarter of the year on improving business environment.
D&L posted stronger growth in the first quarter despite rising costs as its businesses continued to improve with the reopening of the economy.
Alvin Lao, D&L president, said the company experienced a sales “bump” in April after the alert level was eased to the minimum.
“Airlines are reporting that things are almost back to normal. Traffic’s almost back to normal. Restaurants are full again. More people are going on vacations. There are even graduation ceremonies and celebrations. So, the second quarter, at least in terms of economic activity, looks quite good,” Lao said.
D&L managed to grow its earnings by 12 percent in the first quarter of the year despite the surge of COVID infections and the imposition of stricter quarantine measures during the period.
“If there is no new variant that will cause restrictions… I think a lot of companies whose performances are correlated with the economy should see quite good a performance not just this second quarter but for the rest of the year…and we will likely see that impacting us as a business also,” said Lao.
D&L declared a cash dividend worth P1.71 billion, equivalent to P0.24 per share consisting of a regular cash dividend of P0.185 per share, plus a special cash dividend of P0.055 per share.
The company said this translates to a dividend yield of 3.6 percent based as of June 3, 2022’s closing price of P6.75.
This year’s dividend amounting to P1.7 billion or an increase of 26 percent from last year’s P1.4 billion, is equivalent to 65 percent of last year’s recurring income.
Shareholders of record as of June 21, 2022 will be entitled to the cash dividend. Payment will be made on July 15, 2022.
Including this year’s payment, the company has returned a total of P13.2 billion in cash to shareholders through dividends since the initial public offering in 2012. The company also paid a 100-percent stock dividend in September 2015.
