Whichever way you wrap it up, it’s an unmade dividend payment. DS Smith, the paper and packaging group, yesterday became the latest FTSE 100 company to call a halt to its dividend, suspending the declared interim payout of 5.4p a share in a move that gives it £74 million of extra capital.
Reassuringly, it gave every indication to its shareholders that it wasn’t being forced into an emergency measure because of a funding shortfall or trading crisis. It may also add some, if not all, of the missed half-year payment to the final dividend (set to be outlined at its results for the year to the end of April) due to be declared in July. Nevertheless, the decision lays down the clear marker that,
