It could arguably have been a lot worse. Coronavirus brought Bunzl’s enviable track record of paying a higher dividend in every period for the past 27 years to a shuddering halt yesterday.
The FTSE 100 provider of essential day-to-day supplies to businesses worldwide cancelled a final dividend payment of 35.8p a share that it had already declared at its annual results in mid-February before the full effects of Covid-19 had become clear.
The move provides the group with £119 million of cash as a buffer should it need it in the months ahead, although it said it was considering whether it might be able to bolster this year’s interim payout to make up for some of the lost shareholder income. It has until August to
