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To: Madharry who wrote (12254)	4/1/2001 11:40:25 PM
From: Paul Senior	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78600

Madharry: re: LDP's div. yield. about: "there is no evidence that the dividend yield is 6%." You might be right; as I review my file, I can't simply confirm or define what the current yield is. Here's stocksheet's stuff: stocksheet.com I see from the 3/13/01 press release that the final dividend will be 18 cents per share gross. There are two issues for me here in trying to calculate a yield: the timing issue related to semi annual payments when a dividend is paid in one year but possibly related to (and also reported in the financial statements???) in the prior year. More significantly, that "gross" amount is before a 20% Jersey Income Tax (and a 2 cent per ADR fee). According to LDP's annual report, "The Jersey tax deducted is not a withholding tax and therefore there is no corresponding foreign tax credit." So that tax is not recoverable for us American taxpayers, as I understand it. The ADR dividend is reported net of the Jersey tax amount, and it was .928 in both '98 and '99. That's pre the split; so I make the dividend in those years to be .232 post split. Because I can't now trust the Stocksheet figures, and by association, the Yahoo figure (it shows .29 current), I have to back off on my statement that the yield is 6%. I'll just guess that the yield currently is closer to .232/4.5 or about 5% And as is typical with European and particularly (in my experience) British companies, the dividend amounts often vary up AND down among years. I interpret their policies as providing their stockholders with rewards commensurate with the performance, or lack thereof, of their companies. In good years you get a share of the good profits; in bad years the dividend is less to reflect less profit. This is in contrast to our USA companies of course, which, if they are companies that pay dividends, usually shoot for consistency in dividend amount or in dividend increase. Paul Senior