Member Info for Bonz1957

I wouldn't read too much into those late trades if I were you. The bid and ask prices always have a large spread once the markets are closed, must be how the system is set up. Expect them to correct themselves tomorrow, and would expect to see NG open very near to today's close of 539 - unless NY falls off a cliff!!!

You could do a lot worse than look at the utilities, especially the water co's. SSE, SVT, UU., as well as RSA, BNC, SL. and VOD all pay divs with a yield around 6% and offer scrip div alternatives. Although the water co's are currently pretty near to all time highs. Another fave is Thorntons, pays a good div and you get some money off vouchers once a year. One of the best pieces of advice I could offer from my years of investing - not original but true - is to have a balanced and diversified portfolio. The more fingers you have in the more pies the more chance you have of being in a sector that is doing well. Holdings in the utilities, seen as a defensive sector, can help to protect you in a falling market. BP was the first share I ever bought, has been very kind to me over the years - present circumstances excepted - and will probably be the last share I sell. It is the bedrock of my portfolio and I am fairly certain that it will be back to pre-leak levels, growing and paying 6% divs within the next 3-5 years. By all accounts the damage is not as bad as the yanks would have had us believe, and this will all be forgotten when the next disaster or American occupation of yet another foreign country happens. Happy investing.

I have always taken divs as shares when they are offered and have built up some substantial holdings this way over the years. It has worked for me as I'm the buy 'em and hold 'em type, not for me buying and selling on a regular basis with all of those dealing charges. In today's post I received 3 Severn Trent shares in lieu of a £39 div, had I been paid the £39 it would probably have disappeared in the weekly shop, as it is I now have an extra 3 shares to grow and contribute to the next div. One of my biggest holdings is in BP, I have only ever bought 2600 shares - admittedly my first purchase was 35 years ago - and now have over 20,000 with share splits and divs taken as shares. All I need now is the sp back over £5 and I'll be happy again.

If you look at the information below the graphs on this page, or of any share that you are looking at, the last two boxes: 'Dividend' and 'Yield' will tell you what you need to know. The figure below 'Dividend' is the total amount in pence that the company paid out in dividends in the last financial year. The 'Yield' is that dividend amount expressed as a percentage of todays sp, the higher the yield - a good one would be around 6% - the better the payout. As Fattyman says this information along with all the relevant dates can easily be found on any company's website, usually under 'Investor Relations'.

Unless you need the cash that the div will bring why not re-invest it via the company's Scrip Dividend Re-investment plan. It's a great way to increase your holding over time without any dealing charges. With a yield around 6% your holding doubles in 12 years, at no cost, plus the increase in the value of the shares. The scrip reference price for the forthcoming div - 24.84p on 18/8 - has already been set at 488.10 so the new shares on offer are already up 36p. Bargain. Even on my modest holding I'm currently getting approx 250 free shares a year.

Taken from their half year results announced last Thurs: they 'Expect to recommence dividend at year end, subject to continued trading performance'.

With such a lousy yield it hardly seems worth all the effort. You'll incur dealing charges and the sp will drop by 6p when it goes ex-div. You may have to wait a long time to see any real growth. But then what do I know?? I'm only here because I was one of the original 'Sids' who jumped on 'Maggies Privatisation Bandwagon' way back in the mid 80's and never got around to getting off. Still I now own shares in BG, Centrica and N Grid but have absolutely no idea what my base cost for each is!!!

BG goes ex-div on 4/8, the record date is 6/8, and the interim div of 6.35p will be paid on 10/9. As the last final div was 6.73p this would give a years total div of 13.08p and a yield on today's closing price of 1013p of 1.29%!!! Great solid share but as ever a p1ss poor yield!!!

Not sure where the '' comes from, it's just a bullet point in the results!!!

Nice to see the sp back in three figures. Results: http://www.trinitymirror.com/documents/2010%20Interim%20Announcement%20Final.pdf Summary  Operating profit(1)(2) up by 25.7% to £61.7 million (2009: £49.1 million)  Group revenue(2) flat at £382.2 million (2009: £383.0 million)  Operating margin(1)(2) increased by 3.3 percentage points to 16.1%  Significantly earnings enhancing acquisition of GMG Regional Media completed on 28 March 2010 for cash consideration of £7.4 million  Total costs(1), excluding GMG Regional Media operating costs of £15.5 million, reduced by £29.0 million  Structural cost savings target increased by £5 million to £25 million of which £15 million delivered in the period  Material improvement in earnings per share(1)(2) up 58.6% from 8.7 pence to 13.8 pence  Strong cash generation contributed to net debt(3) falling by £15.6 million from £324.0 million to £308.4 million Unfortunately for us the results are not yet good enough for the re-instatement of a div!!

My faves are N. Grid, Vod, Santander, S.Life and the Utilities. And until recently BP, but my love affair with that one has gone off the boil as she has gotten into a bit of bother with some Yanks!!! Also Thorntons is a good one, especially if the div is held with the currently depressed sp. And you get some money off vouchers to enjoy some scrummy choc, in fact I like it so much perhaps I should change my 'handle' to Fattyman2!!!

The share goes ex-div on 11/8 and there is usually an initial fall in sp which equals the amount of the div, although this would soon be made up assuming no great falls on the FTSE. In order to still be paid the div on 26/11 you would need to ensure that you are still on the register at the record date, which is 13/8. As to when to sell, who knows what will happen between now and then. Only you know at what price you bought, if you are sitting on a profit or loss, what your investment strategy is, do you have the money earmarked for another investment, etc etc. If the market remains static there is not a lot between selling now and missing out on the div, and waiting until after 13/8 maybe selling 2-3p down but receiving the div in Nov. What does your crystal ball say? Or as Clint would say 'D'ya feel lucky punk'!!! If you sell now will it be up 20p in 2 weeks, or do you hold and risk it falling 20p? If it suits your purposes to sell now then that is what you should do. Trust me, I would be seriously wealthy now if I had settled for a small profit at times, instead of being greedy and hanging on for more, only to see the markets turn quickly and end up being locked into a loss for years!!! You will sleep a lot easier at night thinking about how you could have made more if you had held, rather than agonising over how much you lost because you didn't get out when you could. Finally, if you really cannot decide what to do the answer is very easy. Sell half and keep the rest, that way you are only ever half pleased or half dissapointed!!!

Rather think Fattyman was referring to last years interim div which was 2.92p - not the sp!!! Nice to see you living up to your name LOL!!! Now that BP has sprung a leak this is one of the best yielders around. GLA

Thanks for your kind words. Obviously companies want you to invest more money in a RI, but that's not always possible or prudent, so tail-swallowing is a great option if you want to retain your initial investment.

The record date is the date on which you have to appear on the share register in order to qualify for the dividend.

According to their website the next div is announced 5/8, goes ex-div 11/8, record date is 13/8 and it will be paid 26/11.

I'm afraid that a drop in value always accompanies a RI, it did with Lloyds and National Express last year and again with Nat Grid recently. Only you can decide if any investment will be to your benefit in the long term, then either take money out, make the best of what's available, or put a little more in to end up with a larger investment. All of my investments are in certificated form so I have always dealt via the allotment letter without any costs to buy or sell, but realise that you may incur costs holding via Crest. As long as all the underlying fundamentals are sound and RSL can make this aquisition work then you could see your £200 shortfall turn into a profit with time, assuming there are no more skeletons to come out of the closet and we can avoid the dreaded double-dip!!!

You don't have to sell the nil-paids. If you read my previous post you can do what I outlined in option 3). If you hold in Crest you can pay the call on as many rights as you want and sell the rest. It is slightly trickier, but still achievable, to obtain the same result if you hold in certificated form but you have to be wary of deadlines and postal times.

Before anyone shoots me down, I'm not invested here but have a lot of knowledge of RI's over the years. Unless this RI is different to all of those that have gone before you have a few options open to you, you do not have to sell your nil-paids. The rights issue is a way of raising money - in this case to fund the aquisition of AXA's UK Life Business - and they would obviously like you to take up your rights and invest more money into the company and end up with more shares as a result in the larger company. The nil-paids are an entity in their own right and can be bought and sold. Basically you have FOUR options. 1) If you can afford to take up your rights you simply send them a cheque as per your provisional allotment letter or settle via Crest. 2) You can sell your rights on the open market and take cash. 3) You can do what is known as 'Tail swallowing' or a 'cashless take up'. This is where you sell enough of your nil-paids in order to fund the purchase of the remainder of your rights. This way you can take up part of the offer without it costing you a penny or having to pay any dealing charges. You should also end up with a hoIding close to your investment value prior to the consolidation and RI. 4) You can do nothing. Then your nil-paids will lapse at the end of the offer period and you will receive a cheque for what RSL are able to achieve in the open market less their expenses. The disadvantage of this course of action is that you will not know how much you will receive until the cheque arrives. And finally, if you are well minted, not only could you take up all your own rights, you could buy even more nil-paids and pay the 150p call on those as well. Hope some of the above helps. GLA

There was a 2-for-5 Rights Issue in June which accounts for the fall in sp. For every 5 shares you held at the record date you were entitled to buy 2 new shares at 335p. So if you had 5 at 625p you were able to buy 2 at 335p which would have given you a new average of 542p. We are slightly below that figure due to the fact that the sp is often depressed once a RI is declared, and the FTSE is some way down on its value of two months ago. Hope this helps. They still offer one of the best dividends around and have declared that they intend to grow the div by 8% until at least 2012.