IFF hikes dividend despite probe

Article Excerpt

INTERNATIONAL FLAVORS & FRAGRANCES INC. $109 (New York symbol IFF; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 106.6 million; Market cap: $11.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.5; Divd. yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.iff.com) completed its acquisition of Frutarom, an Israeli firm that makes 70,000 flavouring products in October 2018. If you include Frutarom’s debt, the deal was worth $7.1 billion. The company recently discovered that two of Frutarom’s businesses may have paid bribes to customers in Russia and Ukraine. IFF has notified the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Israel’s Ministry of Justice. Based on its own internal investigation, the company feels the alleged payments will have no material impact on its operations or financial condition. Meantime, IFF will raise its quarterly dividend by 2.7% with the October 2019 payment. Investors will then receive $0.75 a share instead of $0.73. The new annual rate of $3.00 yields 2.8%. IFF is still a buy. buy…