When December rolls around, the board of directors at Ebro Foods will meet to discuss the company's annual dividend strategy. During the meeting they will determine how many dividend payments they will issue over the course of next year and how much shareholders will receive during each of those payouts. In fact, they will decide the exact dates that the dividends will be paid.
Although this plan sems like a routine exercise, it is unusual that a Spanish company would reveal this early a set schedule for paying its annual shareholder dividends. Of all companies listed on the Ibex, Ebro Foods is the most transparent about its dividend strategy right now. Other companies, by way of contrast, are behind on paying shareholders what they promised long ago.
True, nearly all the companies on the Ibex that pay a dividend usually choose the same month of the year to pay shareholders. And somewhere in their earnings report there is usually a section indicating how much the company plans to pay in dividends over the course of the upcoming year. But no company decides an exact day before the next year even begins. Except Ebro Foods.
Ebro Foods shareholders have known to expect their third and last dividend payment of the year on Tuesday, September 10. The food company, which is part of EcoDividendo (elEconomista's list of companies that pay high dividends), will pay 0.16 euros per share for a total yield of 2%. Further, the company has also decided its bonus dividend strategy, paying 0.12 euros per share in December.
In September other companies will also pay their dividends. Some of them are listed on the EcoDividendo: BME will pay shareholders 0.4 euros per share for a yield of 1.8%. Unofficially, DF could pay its next dividend around September 17. Abertis and Telefónica have yet to set a date. The former could pay theirs around the first of October and the latter will wait until November 11.
