The Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) share price was out of form on Wednesday.
The travel agent's shares ended the day over 1% lower at $19.70.
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Why did the Flight Centre share price fall?
Today's fall was driven by a couple of factors. One was the broad market weakness, which led to the ASX 200 index recording another disappointing 0.6% decline.
The other factor weighing on the Flight Centre share price could actually be considered a positive for shareholders.
Why's that? Well, that's because the company's shares were trading ex-dividend today for its first dividend since the pandemic.
This means that any investors that owned its shares at yesterday's close, will be entitled to receive this dividend when it is paid. Whereas anyone buying Flight Centre shares today, will not receive the payout. Instead, the seller of the shares will be getting the dividends.
In light of this, its shares have dropped to reflect this. After all, you wouldn't want to pay for something you won't receive.
Flight Centre dividend
Last month, Flight Centre released its FY 2023 results and revealed a 127% increase in revenue to $2,281 million and underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of $302 million.
This allowed the Flight Centre board to declare a fully franked final dividend of 18 cents per share. Its first since all the way back in 2019.
Eligible Flight Centre shareholders can now look forward to receiving this dividend in their bank accounts next month on 19 October.
Despite today's weakness, the Flight Centre share price remains up over 24% since this time last year. This compares favourably to the performance of the ASX 200 index, which has risen approximately 7% over the same period.
