Originally Posted by
Not Long Now
And if it's not a silly question, why is a not for profit company paying dividends to it's shareholders instead of re-investing the money in itself?
NATS has never been a "not for profit company". 5 years ago the Airline Group bid was on the back of a "not for commercial return" basis (subtley different words, very different emphasis). My understanding at the time was that a commercial return was double digit (10+%) and that dividends to shareholders in NATS was to be considerably less than double digit (hence the non-commercial return) ... that is, when it started to be paid.
The nature of shareholding in any company is that you get an acceptable return on your investment (I do anyway !) so paying a dividend is OK by me provided the bsuines is ona sound financial footing (which I believe NATS is) .... that said, I would have preferred dividend shares instead of cash as I believe NATS has plenty of growth in it, particularly as we look ahead to SES
Just my view and no-doubt different to many colleagues however I thought I'd give it.