SkyCity dividend pledge may chew through almost all second half profit as earnings fall

SkyCity dividend pledge may chew through almost all second half profit as earnings fall
By Tina Morrison Feb 19 (BusinessDesk) – SkyCity Entertainment Group’s pledge to maintain dividends at higher levels even as it spends on major developments may see the listed casino company pay out almost all of its second half profit to investors. SkyCity, which has four casinos in New Zealand and two in Australia, increased its dividend policy last year to annual payments of not less than 20 cents a share and not less than 80 percent of normalised profit. Previously, dividends were cut to 60-70 percent of profits in 2009 in an attempt to r...