Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. LtdSOL Dividend DetailsImprovement in profits but pressure continues: The shares of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL) delivered a decent performance this year, generating over 13.22% (as of December 08, 2015) returns as the group reported a regular profit after tax attributable to shareholders increase by 27% year on year (yoy) to $156.4 million during fiscal year of 2015 as compared to $123.2 million in fiscal year of 2014. The group improved its fully franked final dividend by 3.4% to 30 cents per share for the full year of FY15. Meanwhile, the group’s regular profits from TPG Telecom, New Hope, Brickworks and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries improved by 30.5%, 19.8%, 15.2% and 24.3%, respectively, during the period. On the other hand, SOL reported a net loss from non-regular items of $73.1 million in FY15, as compared to a profit of $8.5 million, impacted by the group’s exposure in coal sector. New Hope twelve month movement (during FY15) fell by 36.3% while TPG Limited and API Limited twelve month movement rose by 72.3% and 165% respectively. We believe the group’s exposure in the resource sector might continue to hurt its bottom line given the volatile commodity market and challenging conditions.SOL’s Portfolio as of June 2015 (Source: Company Reports)SOL is also trading at a very expensive valuation with a relatively higher P/E of about 44x. The group’s stock declined over 2.64% (a...
