Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) shares will soon be sending a dividend to shareholders. But investors who want a piece of it will need to be quick.
For the second result in a row, Telstra has increased its dividend for long-suffering investors.
This dividend increase came after the ASX telco share revealed that its earnings per share (EPS) had increased significantly.
Let's have a look at the main details of the upcoming Telstra payment.
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Telstra dividend
Telstra decided to increase its FY23 interim dividend by 6.25% to 8.5 cents per share. This came after multiple years of the interim dividend sitting at 8 cents per share.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) share said that the ex-dividend date is 1 March 2023. That means that investors need to own shares by 28 February 2023 to be entitled to the dividend. That's today.
If investors own shares before the ex-dividend, the payment date for the Telstra dividend is 31 March 2023.
Some investors may want to use the dividend re-investment plan (DRP), which is where shareholders receive new shares rather than cash. This allows investors to accumulate shares without needing to pay brokerage fees. The DRP election date is Friday, 3 March 2023 at 5pm with no DRP discount.
Earnings recap
For the first six months of FY23, Telstra reported that its total income increased by 6.4% to $11.6 billion. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 11.4% to $3.9 billion.
Net profit after tax (NPAT) went up 25.7% to $0.9 billion and EPS increased 27.1% to 7.5 cents. Telstra explained that it has been making good progress on its T25 strategy.
The business also provided guidance for the rest of the 2023 financial year.
It said that total income is expected to be between $23 billion to $25 billion. That would be an increase from $22 billion in FY22.
Underlying EBITDA is expected to be between $7.8 billion to $8 billion, which would be an increase from $7.3 billion in FY22. The more profit it makes, the more likely the Telstra dividend can be increased in future years.
Telstra's capital expenditure is predicted to be between $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion, up from $3 billion in FY22.
Free cash flow after lease payments is guided to be between $2.6 billion to $3.1 billion, down from $4 billion in FY22.
