NEXT DIVIDEND COMING! MANagement gives encouraging outlook for continued revenue stream
"[/("Newport" or "the Company") is pleased to announce its first quarterly cash dividend ("the Dividend") in 2021 of $0.01 per share to its shareholders of record at the close of business on February 25th, 2021. The Dividend payment date is March 12th, 2021. The Dividend, fully approved by the Board of Directors, is not subject to any changes and has been designated as an "eligible dividend" for Canadian income tax purposes.
The $0.01/share dividend paid in September 2020, the $0.03/share dividend paid in December 2020 and the $0.01/share dividend to be paid in March 2021 will be recorded in the Financial Year ended July 31, 2021.
The Company's Dividend Performance, Annual Yields and Earnings per Share since 2015 were documented in a Company News Release dated November 12th, 2020. Newport's dividend payout ratio, being the cash dividends per share of common stock divided by the earnings per share of common stock, compares favorably with that of other yield stocks, particularly those in the energy sector. Investors are cautioned that historical results are no guarantee of future performance.
Management Strategy
Management has received overwhelming support from shareholders for its dividend policy, and many shareholders have expressed the sentiment that paying out a regular dividend at this time is a priority. The dividend strategy has enabled the Company to retain a margin of safety to maintain dividend distributions despite the sector downturn in 2020, with the option of increasing the quarterly dividend at any time.
The Company has an advantageous business model with a 2.5% Gross Overriding Royalty ("GOR") over permits in the Cooper Basin, Australia, with strong technical fundamentals and with excellent operators in Beach Energy ("Beach") and Santos Ltd ("Santos"). Beach is Australia's largest onshore oil producer with a core focus on oil exploration and development activities in the Cooper Basin. Newport has built in exposure to significant potential growth at zero risk to shareholders as there is no time limit or expiry date on the GOR assets, and no cost to the Company to retain them.
Guidance
As reported in a Company News Release dated January 28th, 2021, Beach continue to achieve extraordinary exploration success (particularly in oil fields on ex-PEL 91), and have maintained very low production costs. In doing so, Beach has achieved both reserve replacement and positive cash flow. Also, Beach's exploration success, reported oil reserves, and low production costs have allowed it to limit spending without threatening future output from licenses in the Cooper Basin, over which the Company has its GOR.
Although Beach's production from ex-PEL 91 for their December 2020 quarter was below the previous quarter, Beach has made no changes to full year production guidance. Accordingly, Management is confident that shareholders of the Company should continue to be rewarded with dividend continuity. Beach plans to update their FY21 guidance with their half year results on February 15th, 2021."b]
