Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, March 17, 2017

Article Excerpt

SNC-LAVALIN GROUP INC., $52.33, Toronto symbol SNC, is a leading Canadian engineering and construction company that specializes in large-scale infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, transit systems and water-treatment plants. The company has now raised its quarterly dividend by 5.0%. Starting with the payment on March 30, 2017, investors will receive $0.273 a share, up from $0.26. The new annual rate of $1.09 yields 2.1%. SNC earned $1.6 million, or $0.01 a share, in the three months ended December 31, 2016. That’s a big drop from its year-earlier earnings of $49.2 million, or $0.33. If you disregard costs related to a cost-cutting plan, including job cuts, SNC’s earnings rose 14.9%, to $0.77 a share from $0.67. The restructuring plan reduced the company’s costs by $132 million in 2016. SNC expects to eliminate an additional $100 million from its expenses in 2017. Revenue in the latest quarter fell 16.4%, to $2.2 billion from $2.6 billion. That’s largely because weak commodity prices have slowed the construction of…