gildan activewear inc shares jumped wednesday after the canadian clothing company said it would continue to return cash to shareholders through a boost to its quarterly dividend and more stock buybacks in morning trading the shares were 7 higher at c4146 widening the gain so far in 2023 to 12 gildan said it was lifting its dividend by 10 for 2023 declaring a payout of 186 cents a share that will be payable april 10 to shareholders of record on march 14 it said it also expects to continue with share buybacks in 2023 and the planned repurchase of 5 of the outstanding public float of shares the moves come after gildan returned a record 573 million of capital to shareholders last year through a combination of share repurchases and dividend payments gildan said it expects low singledigit revenue growth in the fiscal year as it works through industry headwinds and margin pressure in the early part of 2023 while adjusted pershare earnings are forecast to be in line with the prior year the company said in the year through jan 1 gildan recorded adjusted earnings of 311 a share and an 11 rise in sales to 292 billion the company said that it expects to continue benefiting from favorable industry trends including the casualization of apparel and interest in privatelabel products but headwinds tied to the demand environment and strong comparative periods are expected to continue in the early part of 2023 increased margin pressure is anticipated in early 2023 as gildan works through higher raw material and input costs currently in inventories though past the first quarter the headwinds are projected to abate it said