Dividend restrictions
The cases in which a company may not distribute profit: insufficient net assets, signs of insolvency, share capital not paid up.
How to read the number
This is a prohibition rather than a choice: in such circumstances no resolution to pay can validly be taken, whatever shareholders would prefer.
When the metric lies
The tests apply both on the day of the decision and on the day of payment. A declared dividend goes unremitted if the company's position changed in between.
Also known as: dividend restrictions