Running a finger down the dividend yield column of a newspaper’s share price page reveals no fewer than 14 stocks with a dividend yield of more than 11%.
It is unlikely that the company will pay a dividend this year as the high dividends in the past were paid out of capital rather than earnings. Not only are there the normal risks about the company’s operational performance and the demand for electrical and other cables, there is also the risk of the value of the Zimbabwean dollar and whether the country will have enough foreign exchange to allow the payment of dividends to SA investors.
The sale of these property interests hit a snag recently when the SA part of Atterbury announced that it will repay a loan due to RMH with shares instead of cash. However, the share price fell by more than 50% from a high of R373 around a year ago because international coal prices halved. Gemfields has already elected not to declare an interim dividend for the first six months of the new financial year after returning more than $70 million to shareholders in the preceding 13 months. Management listed higher operating costs and fears that prices for rubies and emeralds can soften due to the current economic environment as reasons.