A Yield to Caution

Article Excerpt

CHEMTRADE LOGISTICS INCOME FUND $6.72 (Toronto symbol CHE.UN; Shares outstanding: 93.3 million; Market cap: $627.0 million; Dividend yield: 8.9%; www.chemtradelogistics.com) is one of the largest removal-service providers for resource firms that create acids and sulphur as by-products. The company also makes and sells a variety of chemicals used in water treatment, along with a range of other specialty chemicals. Chemtrade operates as an income trust. That’s because it’s structured so that its earnings are subject to a Canadian tax rate of no more than 10%. That helps keep its distributions high as a percentage of its cash flow. In March 2020, given the uncertainty of global economy, the trust cut its monthly distribution by 50%, to $0.05 from $0.10. The units have a still-high yield of 8.9%. Chemtrade faces market conditions that will weigh on it for the foreseeable future. At the same time, its long-term debt is now $1.3 billion, or a very high 2.1 times its $627.0 million market cap. Much…