The SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) share price is trading lower on Tuesday despite announcing a big dividend increase with its full year results.
At the time of writing, the job listings giant's shares are down 0.5% to $31.37.
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SEEK share price lower despite large dividend increase
For the 12 months ended 30 June, SEEK reported a 1% increase in revenue to $1,591 million and a 58% jump in net profit after tax excluding significant items to $141 million.
Things were even better if you look at its continuing operations. Revenue from continuing operations increased 17% to $760 million and net profit from continuing operations jumped 68% to $135 million.
This was driven by a strong performance from the SEEK Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) business. It grew its revenue by 40% to $541 million thanks to a small and medium enterprise (SME)-led recovery.
The SEEK ANZ business reported record ad volumes in the second half of the year amid easing COVID-19 restrictions. Its market position also remained strong despite intense competition. This led to SEEK reporting an average of 40 million monthly site visits. This represents 10% growth on pre-COVID-19 levels.
Thanks to this strong form, the SEEK dividend grew strongly year on year.
What did the SEEK Board declare?
The SEEK Board declared a fully franked final dividend of 20 cents per share. Combined with the interim SEEK dividend of 20 cents, this brought its full year dividend to 40 cents per share.
This is triple the solitary interim dividend of 13 cents per share in FY 2020 that was declared in February but paid in July last year. It is, however, down a touch from the pre-COVID dividend of 46 cents per share paid in FY 2019.
Eligible shareholders can now look forward to being paid the final SEEK dividend of FY 2021 in six weeks on October 5.
