The Importance Of Dividends

"The only thing that gives me pleasure is to see my dividend coming in." --John D. Rockefeller.

One of the simplest ways for companies to communicate financial well-being and shareholder value is to say "the dividend check is in the mail." Dividends, those cash distributions that many companies pay out regularly to shareholders from earnings, send a clear, powerful message about future prospects and performance. A company's willingness and ability to pay steady dividends over time--and its power to increase them--provide good clues about its fundamentals.

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Dividend Facts You May Not Know

Money For Nothing" is not only the title of a song by Dire Straits in the '80s, but also the feeling many investors get when they receive a dividend. All you have to do is buy shares in the right company and you'll receive some of its earnings. How exciting is that? However, despite the advantage, there are several implications involved in the paying and receiving of dividends that the casual investor may not be aware of. This article will explain several of these. But first, let's begin with a short primer.

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U.K. Stocks Pay Europe's Highest Dividends, Fail to Lure Buyers

Stock investors who hunt for high yields in Europe are looking everywhere except the U.K., where companies pay the biggest dividends in the world's major markets.

Britain's FTSE 100 Index is lagging behind the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a benchmark for the euro region, for a third year. The pound's 13 percent rally against the dollar in the past 12 months and rising interest rates are weighing on earnings and share prices.

The slowdown in profit growth is enough to deter money managers even though FTSE 100 companies' dividend payments relative to share prices are 16 percent higher than those in the 13 countries sharing the euro, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Dividends for the FTSE 100 are two-thirds more than those of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the U.S. and are almost quadruple those of Japan's Nikkei-225 Stock Average

Read more at Bloomberg.com

Anglo American profit up 46 pct, to return $3 bln

Anglo American Plc, the world's third-largest miner, said on Wednesday it would return $3 billion to investors as it posted a 46 percent rise in annual net profit, at the bottom end of forecasts.
Anglo said in a statement it made a net profit of $5.47 billion in 2006, on revenue up 12 percent at $38.6 billion. The final dividend was raised 21 percent to 75 cents.

Read more at Reuters South Africa

KWV earnings surge 59%

Alcoholic beverages group KWV Investments (KWV) increased headline earnings per share by 59% from 201.9c to 321.7c for the six months ended 31 December 2006.

Headline earnings increased from R84.8 to R135 for the half-year.

The group declared an interim dividend of 120c/share, a 26.3% increase on the 95c dividend per share for the previous comparative half-year.

Read more at FIN24.co.za

Declaration, Ex-dividend And Record Date Defined

Have the workings of dividends and dividend distributions mystified you too? Chances are it's not the concept of dividends that confuses you; the ex-dividend date and date of record are the tricky factors. In this article we'll sort through the dividend payment process and explain on what date the buyer of the stock gets to keep the dividend.


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JSE higher on resources

JSE higher on resources
The all share index closed 0.62% stronger. The all share industrial index inched 0.11% higher.

There are 2 trades I am busy with. PPC and BAW. Mostly because of the big dividends and support for BAW with the unbundled of PPC out of BAW. However I think a better strategy of shorting PPC while going long on BAW would have been better.

PPC ended the day up 0.01% while BAW ended down by 1.62% (going ex dividend)

PPC

BAW

Had some problems with the moving of my PPC and BAW share instalments from my normal trading portfolio to my Warrant portfolio. This is to reduce trading cost. I also need to make sure I get the full dividend as the only payed me the special of PPC and not the normal dividend as well.