RE:RE:Sector Comparison Like a Royalty or a BDC in the US, they are obligated pass through so much of their profit/revenue (I forget the exact metric) to shareholders, I believe someone mentioned it is about 90%, I know BDCs in the US is 90%.
I don't do a deep dive on the financials as it is mostly over my head, but of the 5 I've mentioned, FC does a routine special at the end of the year with extra that they have to pass out, AI has a history of passing additional specials every couple years and MKP just did one recently passing a unexpected profit on to shareholders in the form of additional shares and has a history of infrequent specials. In the BDC space, companies carry a 'spill over' so they are allowed to withhold some payout to maintain the dividends at a consistent pace, but when the spill over becomes too much they either raise or use a special dividend to reduce it, I'm confident that is the same for these mortgage lenders.
MKP reduced thier dividend 3 years ago after over raising it and has since re-raised but not to the full previous level, TF lowered thier dividend 5 years ago and re-raised a minor amount since, BRE has not lowered the dividend in 10 years, but has raised it several times.
I do not have the numbers on thier current payout ratios you would like, but they should all be 90% or below and in FCs case I'm positive it's lower, they have no history of raising the dividend in the past several years, just the special, which has been growing the past couple years so I expect they have the ability to grow the regular and reduce the special.
I see these as a pretty safe place to step in and earn a very high yeild, but growth is rather muted because of the payouts required, which why MKP has come to shareholders with an offering and increased shares for a special because they see growth coming but they need capital to take advantage of it.
I haven't really answered your question definitively, as I don't have the numbers, but I expect they do have comfort on their payout ratios especially with MKPs growth of 14% in the past year when they were only targeting 10%. I would expect that all 5 companies numbers would be pretty similar, but I have not done that intense of a deep dive other than when I've made initial purchases.
But also to be clear, I'm not calling for them to raise thier dividends (well FC I would like to increase the regular half a cent and reduce the special), I believe that all of these companies are over valued currently and suggest a strategic approach of entering or growing a position as I believe more favourable metics can be had eventually.
I personally just got off the phone with my broker and exercised my rights on 60 shares and signed up for an additional 200 in the offering if available @ $15.65. That strike price gives me a yeild of 8.69% which is almost a percent higher than the current yeild at the market, if not for that strike price I would not be interested in growing my position. My overall current yeild on cost for this investment is 11.37% and total gains of dividends received plus price appreciation is 117% in 8 years or about 14.63% a year on simple average. At the moment I own 1205 shares which will increase 60+ after the offering completion. I also own 400 shares of FC @ an average price of $11 for almost a year and that gives me a yeild on cost of 8.53% not including the special. Overall return in just under a year I've gained 40.4% (but anyone could have done that or even better during the Covid bounce). I just show this all as an example that I am putting my money where my mouth is in the strategy thoughts I share.
I enjoy talking about legit strategies, ideas and quality questions. Your question was excellent and I hope we have someone who has done the deep dive and could answer it better as I would be very interested in that!