A higher interim dividend for Washington H Soul Pattinson (SOL), the big shareholder in Brickworks (BKW) (and Brickworks is the big shareholder in Soul Patts) .
Soul Patts yesterday revealed a strong lift in underlying profit for the six months to January, thanks to higher contributions from its coal (New Hope), telecom (TPG Telecom) and construction (Brickworks) companies.
Soul’s net profit before one-off items, jumped 33.6% to $84.8 million. Including one-off items, after tax profit fell 8.7% to $67.3 million for the six months to January 31, down from the prior interim result of $73.7 million.
The group will pay a fully franked interim dividend of 20c, a 5.3% increase on the prior corresponding period.
Revenue for the group rose 5.8% to $355.1 million for the half, up from the previous corresponding period’s $335.8 million.
SOL 1Y – Soul Patts lifts dividend
“Our diversified portfolio of investments has again delivered a strong result for shareholders,” Soul Pattinson chairman Robert Millner said in yesterday’s statement.
“(Soul Pattinson) has cash reserves including wholly-owned subsidiaries of $191.7 million which means we are in a strong financial position,” Mr Millner said.
Nowhere evident in the Soul Patts result, or in the commentary from management is the $700 million in extra value from the rise in TPG Telecom shares since the latter’s bid for iiNet was announced, nor the rise in Brickworks shares.
That extra value won’t show up at all unless TPG takes over iiNet and starts producing higher profits.
