Determine the total dividend that Conifers Ltd will pay per share in 2026.

The company's earnings available to common shareholders are R500 million.
The stable pay-out ratio is $10\%$.

$$\text{Stable Dividend} = \text{Earnings} \times \text{Stable Pay-out Ratio}$$ $$\text{Stable Dividend} = \text{R}500,000,000 \times 0.10$$ $$\text{Stable Dividend} = \text{R}50,000,000$$

$$\text{Net Profit after Stable Dividend} = \text{Earnings} - \text{Stable Dividend}$$ $$\text{Net Profit after Stable Dividend} = \text{R}500,000,000 - \text{R}50,000,000$$ $$\text{Net Profit after Stable Dividend} = \text{R}450,000,000$$

Special dividends are issued if the net profit margin (after the stable dividend) equals or exceeds $10\%$.
Sales are R4.5 billion, which is R4,500,000,000.

$$\text{Net Profit Margin (after stable dividend)} = \frac{\text{Net Profit after Stable Dividend}}{\text{Sales}}$$ $$\text{Net Profit Margin (after stable dividend)} = \frac{\text{R}450,000,000}{\text{R}4,500,000,000}$$ $$\text{Net Profit Margin (after stable dividend)} = 0.10 \text{ or } 10\%$$

Since the margin is $10\%$, which meets the condition ($\ge 10\%$), a special dividend will be paid.

Special dividends amount to $50\%$ of net profits after the stable dividend.

$$\text{Special Dividend} = \text{Net Profit after Stable Dividend} \times 0.50$$ $$\text{Special Dividend} = \text{R}450,000,000 \times 0.50$$ $$\text{Special Dividend} = \text{R}225,000,000$$

Total dividend = Stable Dividend + Special Dividend

$$\text{Total Dividend} = \text{R}50,000,000 + \text{R}225,000,000$$ $$\text{Total Dividend} = \text{R}275,000,000$$

The company has 550 million shares outstanding.

$$\text{Total Dividend per Share} = \frac{\text{Total Dividend}}{\text{Shares Outstanding}}$$ $$\text{Total Dividend per Share} = \frac{\text{R}275,000,000}{550,000,000 \text{ shares}}$$ $$\text{Total Dividend per Share} = \text{R}0.50 \text{ per share}$$

Converting to cents: R0.50 = 50 cents.

The final answer is $\text{c. 50c}$.