Dis-Chem decides to defer dividend payment to preserve cash

DURBAN – Retail pharmaceutical group Dis-Chem Pharmacies yesterday said it had deferred its dividend payment to preserve cash in order to deal with the uncertainties created by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Dis-Chem said it was pinning its hopes on the government’s phased reopening of the economy to bounce back from difficulties it experienced since the government announced the Covid-19 lockdown in March.

The group said it would resume the dividend payments once conditions had improved.

“The dividend payment will be deferred until the next dividend cycle once the group better understands normalised trading conditions and considers the funding sources for the Baby City transaction,” the group said.

Last year, the group declared a gross final cash dividend of 13.47cents a share, as it returned R266million to shareholders in dividend payments during the year which was 11.7percent lower than a year earlier.