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Personal Group PLC (LON:PGH), a leading provider of employee services in the UK, has said it anticipates the payment of its fourth and final dividend in respect of its financial year ending December 31, 2020, following publication of its audited full-year results in March 2021.
The group said its board has taken a more prudent approach to the fourth dividend for 2020 which has historically been declared and paid during the fourth quarter.
READ: Personal Group weathers the COVID-19 storm to grow profits and revenues
Given the recent UK government announcement of further national lockdown restrictions and ongoing uncertainty, it added, the final amount will now be determined and announced following the year-end.
Looking forwards, from 2021 Personal Group said its board has decided to adopt a more typical dividend payment profile with two dividends scheduled each year following the respective half-year and full-year financial reporting periods.
This revised profile will enable the board to have greater clarity on operational results prior to declaring the amount to be paid, the company added.
At the start of October, Personal Group chief executive Deborah Frost told Proactive that the first six months of 2020 had been a “surprisingly good period” considering the coronavirus pandemic, with revenue rising 1% to £30mln and profit before tax advancing 2% to £4mln.
After paying a reduced quarterly dividend for the three months to June, she said the plan is to return to a “full-fat” dividend of 5.9p per share for the third quarter, but added that no decision had then been made on the fourth-quarter dividend.
The half-year ended with no debt and £19mln in the bank. The group’s core insurance division saw its adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) jump by 16% to £4.5mln from £3.6mln despite revenue dipping a little from last year’s level.
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