This post has been a long time coming, as the dividend growth investing community still has one major shortcoming, but it wasn’t until recently that I had some time to sit down and do the research. While United States-based investors rely on David Fish’s Dividend Champions list and the United Kingdom boasts an equally impressive list by Trevor Witten, an extensive record of European dividend stocks is lacking. Today I’d like to fix that.
One key aspect of an excellent passive income producing portfolio is that it must be well-diversified. With almost all privately owned companies trading on one stock exchange or another, diversification, both geographically as well as among industries, isn’t a problem for most dividend growth investors. Real estate, however, is one of the key areas that used to be difficult to capture for most investors, but not anymore. Enter the Real Estate Investment Trust or REIT.
Almost every magazine, newspaper or website dedicated to investing out there at one point in time published an article about the pillar stocks of so-called retirement portfolio’s. Not many companies are branded retirement stocks, but British Reckitt Benckiser Group plc (LON:RB) is definitely among them. Being a worldwide defensive consumer goods manufacturer, RB has definitely earned that title.
Fiscal pressures, all-encompassing regulatory changes, a dynamic global playing-field, and a strong shift to consumerism force healthcare companies to constantly re-invent themselves. On top of that they have to deal with risks inherent to the healthcare industry, such as irregularities in development pipelines and steep patent cliffs. As a result, future free cash flow is highly volatile and far from certain.
With smoking becoming less and less popular in developed nations tobacco companies are looking at new areas and innovative products for growth. British American Tobacco, for example, tries to bolster its core business by being at the forefront of the e-cigarette revolution. As a result, the UK based tobacco company’s long-term future seems assured.
