Everything you need to know about the Coles dividend

The Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) dividend has been announced with the FY26 result and it was another pleasing payout for shareholders.

Coles has regularly been giving investors a larger dividend in each of its annual results over the last several years and FY26 was another good year for shareholders hoping for growth.  

As the country's second-largest supermarket operator, it has market power few can match.

The FY26 result saw a number of growth figures for the business, including 2.8% revenue growth (and 3.7% growth for supermarkets), operating profit (EBITDA) grew 7.1%, underlying net profit increased 13.7% and statutory net profit rose 1%.

The statutory net profit figure was impacted by $235 million of significant items relating to the Fair Work Ombudsman's proceedings.

However, the strength of the underlying net profit performance helped the board of directors declare another pleasing payout for investors.

Coles dividend for FY26

The Coles board of directors decided to declare a fully franked final dividend of 37 cents per share. This brings the full-year dividend for FY26 to 78 cents per share, representing a 13% year-over-year increase.

Based on the statutory net profit, the business delivered earnings per share (EPS) of 81.5 cents. Therefore, the full-year dividend represents 95.7% of statutory earnings, though it's a lower percentage of underlying net profit after tax.

At the time of writing, the Coles FY26 final dividend represents a dividend yield of 1.6% excluding franking credits and 2.2% including franking credits.

If we look at the dividend yield of the annual payout, it represents a dividend yield of 3.3% excluding franking credits and 4.7% including franking credits.

When will this be paid?

Before getting to the payment date, first we need to look at the ex-dividend date.

The ex-dividend date tells us the cut-off day for dividend eligibility. Investors need to own shares before the ex-dividend date to be entitled for the upcoming payment.

With this upcoming dividend, the ex-dividend date 3 September 2026. That means investors need to own Coles shares by the end of trading on 2 September 2026 to be entitled to this payment.

After that, investors will receive payment on 22 September 2026, so that's less than a month away.

Investors can also elect to receive new Coles shares rather than cash as the dividend. If they want to receive new shares, then they need to make that election with the dividend reinvestment plan by 5pm on Monday, 7 September 2026.

Dividend growth in FY27 looks promising, with the company announcing that supermarket sales growth in the first eight weeks of FY27 was consistent with the fourth quarter of FY26.

The post Everything you need to know about the Coles dividend appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Motley Fool contributor Tristan Harrison has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia's parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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