SYDNEY — Qantas Airways announced its first dividend since 2009 and handed bonuses to 25,000 workers asCEO Alan Joyce’s turnaround programme delivered a record annual profit.Australia’s biggest carrier will pay a final dividend of 7 Australian cents a share and buy back as much as A$366m ($279m) of stock, according to a filing on Wednesday. Earnings before tax and one-time items surged 57% to A$1.53bn in the 12 months ended June 30.Joyce, who has cut thousands of jobs, deferred aircraft orders and dropped unprofitable routes as part of a A$2bn transformation programme, said the three-year plan is now on course to exceed its target. The regular dividend has returned earlier than some analysts had expected."Qantas is in a really sweet spot,’’ said Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at IG. "A regular dividend in this global environment is going to be a real positive. It shows you how consistently the company can hold these gains going forward.’’Before Wednesday, Sydney-based Qantas had ...
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