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I’ve added today, though it’s one of my largest holdings, the confidence expressed about the dividends has encouraged me. I’ve yet to decide whether to allow the automatic reinvestment of the dividend and will decide nearer the time.
The 15% increase in dividend is well above inflation though cautious. Back in the day govt told companies not to increase divs much in order to help curb inflow. If Lloyds had gone too far that sort of restriction could well be back on govt agenda so much as a higher div would be great I think there’s one eye on the political optics.
I prefer Jlen only because it has a broader base of assets albeit smaller and seem to be conscious of not overpaying for assets. While interest rates rise share prices could well drop to compensate but my biggest concern is that government finds a way to tax to the max. I don't pretend to understand how the electricity pricing works though gather it's based on the gas price and govt are looking at decoupling, which could knock the profits and therefore dividends. Of course the knock on effect would also be fewer new renewables projects as firms won't then invest.
For a company wanting and needing to spread the word it is odd that their website financial calendar has no upcoming dates- 'TBD details to follow' is all it says. You'd think and hope they had their act together by now on this type of issue.
Chid makes great points. I would add that it’s not in the best interest of UK banks to make what the govt and opposition might see as excess profits so I am assuming divi rises will be well within inflation levels, assisted by write downs of potential loan losses.
Morning Adewins
I think you will find that govt sold the shares via placings so the number of shares remained the same but with different shareholders. This is an assumption on my part. Any reduction in the numbers of shares in issue will arise from buyback programmes as the shares they buy are then cancelled.
As someone involved in this process I am finding that there is a huge shortage of available properties which local authorities can rent for its people. This is partly due to landlords selling up due to the tax costs rising and also because government sets a Local Housing Allowance which is intended to put a lid on rents. This is the maximum level at which tenants on housing benefit can claim- anything above this is at the cost of the tenant or the council. Social, or what used to be called council tenants, aren’t often able to find that money. On top of that we have empty homes which councils can do anything about as it’s a national govt. issue. Second homes or homes under probate, for example, may be empty in some senses but can’t be used. Bishops Avenue in north London is an extreme example of buyers, mainly foreign in those cases, buying up mansions sitting empty for donkeys years. It needs action in my view.
ZYX
If I had any understanding of what you've said about technical stuff I might agree with you. However, as it is I'm blinded by it all.
And there was I innocently thinking all it is is a drill digging a hole in the ground yet what we appparently have is collars, DST strings, shoe tracks and velocities, none of which makes any sense to me. It sounds very clever though.
With government under pressure from all sides on finances they might be pushed into taking another slice out of banking profits if dividends go up too much as they would see it as excess profits. A decent increase is good as it desnt stand out but doubling dividends would send out a signal that banks are making too much.
SB the problem is that once reputations are trashed it’s hard to climb back. We had the shambles of the audit which raised questions of accounting controls, the determination of the CEO not to do any more deals at under 425p which put a lid on growth and the evident failure of one acquisition. Then the unnecessary and egotistical RNS telling the world the CEO he been going through medical challenges as if shareholders already knew but no RNS till after the recent press conference to say he was back at work. Even then there’s uncertainty as he is having to slow down a bit. And a whopper has been lost. All of which leaves me wondering what else we don’t know about. So the next update will be rather important, particularly as markets are very competitive and economies looking less rosey.
I’m a long term holder for the dividend but am re-assessing whether to automatically reinvest the div this time. This is partly to spread the risk as it’s one of my biggest holdings but also looking at the share price over 5 years it’s in negative territory. Each of the re-invested dividends over the last couple of years is also in negative territory which is disappointing.
Sting
I was thinking the same. People sometimes go into technical details which are lost on mere mortals, like me from example, which gives an impression of expertise but in fact is a load of bunkum. The information might be correct but it helps nobody as we don’t have the knowledge to make sense of it.