Cash Distribution Per Unit - CDPU

A way of referring to what essentially amounts to a dividend, only in a very specific situation.

If you invest in an income trust in Canada, the securities you own are called "units" rather than "shares." So the income trust doesn't have shareholders. It has unitholders. But please...hands off your unit when the kids enter the room.

When the income trust issues what in other circumstances might be referred to as a cash dividend, it gets what is called a cash distribution. Like a typical dividend, it gets issued on a per-share basis, though because we're in Canada and we're talking about these income trusts, the money gets paid out as a cash distribution per unit.