In the past two years, it had been a battle to get former BTL boss Michael Ashcroft to pay a dividend, but new owner Jeffrey Prosser has given in without a fight.
At the new board's inaugural meeting on Friday, Chairman Prosser agreed to pay the dividend at the company's annual general meeting in September.
That's the good news, the bad news is that it's probably the last dividend that will be paid to shareholders. That's because Prosser is expected to use his 84% holding to change the company's articles of association so that it is no longer compelled by law to pay 45% of its profits as dividends.
The benefit of that will accrue exclusively to Prosser who wants to fully own BTL as its profits are projected by analysts to increase by as much as $10 million per year because of his 15% guaranteed rate of return.
This year's dividend will be 45% of the profits, which is projected to be around $25 million. In the Past shareholders received as much as a 30% return on their dividends.