Pental to pay special dividend after sales soar in pandemic

Pental will pay a special dividend after its cleaning products, like White King bleach, were swept off shelves as COVID-19 hit.

Pental boss Charlie McLeish, with some of his company’s most popular brands. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Cleaning products company Pental, one of the few companies to enjoy booming sales and earnings during the coronavirus pandemic, has surprised investors with a special dividend.

The move comes as many other ASX companies scale back or cancel dividend payments to conserve cash and repair strained balance sheets.

Pental, whose cleaning, soap and laundry brands include White King bleach, Velvet, Pears and Country Life, has posted rocketing sales since February as consumers try to protect themselves from the coronavirus.

 

And while big banks, property trusts, industrials and other traditional big dividend payers axe or trim their payouts, the small-cap Pental on Friday had better news for its shareholders.

The company announced a one-off special dividend of 0.7 cents per share, to be paid on August 7 with a record date of July 31.

“The dividend is a sign of strong performance of the company’s portfolio of iconic brands,’’ Pental said in a statement.

“Financial year 2020 has seen sales growth in all of Pental’s Australian sales channels with the White King branded products ranged for the first time in Aldi supermarkets and Bunnings Warehouse stores.

“The export markets including New Zealand and China also experienced solid growth.”

In April Pental said panic buying of bleach, hand sanitisers and soap had put a rocket under earnings, putting it on track to post as much as a 35 per cent leap in its full-year pre-tax earnings.

Pental said the June quarter saw increased demand for its germ-killing White King range of products. The rejuvenation and extension of the company’s Country Life brand contributed to 37 per cent growth over the previous year.

The company’s “Australian Made” and “Australian Owned” marketing helped during the peak of COVID-19 demand.

Pental chief executive Charlie McLeish told The Australian earlier this year that the company had encountered the kind of sales volumes usually witnessed in Christmas.

“This is busier than Christmas, bigger than any other day or week, bigger than any promotion we have done around spring cleaning,’’ he told The Australian.

Pental Limited will release its 2020 financial year results in late August 2020 and confirm its full year final dividend.