The UK Dividend Champions December 2016 edition is now available at DividendChampions.UK.
December was another month with a net loss of three companies reducing the current list membership to 256. Three 25-year champions increased their dividends for another year however.
Here’s an overview of the Calendar Year List changes this month. Four companies were removed from the list and one new company added for a net loss of three companies.
| Category | December | Nov. | Changes |
| Champions (25+ years) | 10 | 10 | 0 |
| Contenders (10-24 years) | 62 | 61 | +1 |
| Challengers (5-9 years) | 153 | 156 | -3 |
| Near-Challengers (4 years) | 31 | 32 | -1 |
| Total | 256 | 259 | -3 |
New Entries to the List
There was 1 new entry this month .
| Company | Symbol | New Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Cambria Automobiles plc | CAMB | Near-Challenger (4) |
Promotions
The following companies were promoted to the next category
| Company | Symbol | New Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Pennon Group plc | PNN | Contender (14) |
| Telecom Plus plc | TEP | Contender (10) |
| Renew Holdings plc | RNWH | Challenger (5) |
Pennon Group plc (PNN) received a larger than normal promotion. They were previously a Challenger (8) but some manual research dug out a few more years of increases.
Companies removed from the List
Companies are removed from the list if they did not increase dividends based on their ex-divided dates for that calendar year. This month the following companies are removed.
| Company | Symbol | Old Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen Asset Management plc | ADN | Contender (10) | CY 16 dividends frozen |
| SCISYS plc | SSY | Challenger (7) | CY 2015 dividend reduced |
| Mitie Group plc | MTO | Challenger (5) | CY 2016 dividend reduced |
| Severn Trent plc | SVT | Near-Challenger (4) | CY 2016 dividend reduced |
Aberdeen Asset Management plc (ADN) froze their dividend this year, so they were removed.
SCISYS plc (SSY), an IT services company, should have been removed from the list earlier as they reduced their dividend in 2015. On a Financial Year basis they still increased their dividend, since the suspended interim dividend was offset by an increased final dividend.
Watchlist
The following companies will likely be removed in the future but I’ve not had time to process them yet.
| Company | Symbol | Old Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connect Group PLC | CNCT | Challenger (6) | 2015 H2 dividend cut from 6.6p to 6.3p |
Connect Group plc (CNCT) will be removed from next month’s update, based on their CY 2016 dividends. I forgot to process them this month as I looked at some other companies instead.
Other Updates
11 companies increased their dividend growth by 1 year in this month’s List although the increase did not result in a promotion. They can be found in the Summary tab of the List.
In particular, three of the 11 increases were from 25-year+ dividend champions. Caledonia Investments (CLDN), Cranswick plc (CWK) and Young & Co’s Brewery (YNGA).
Sector Summary
This section shows the companies organized into their stock sectors and the changes in each category from last month.
| Sector | Champions | Contenders | Challengers | Near-Challengers | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Materials | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
| Consumer Goods | 3 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 23 |
| Consumer Services | 1 | 8 | 24 | 6 +1 | 39 +1 |
| Financials | 2 | 16 -1 | 46 | 8 | 72 -1 |
| Health Care | 0 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 11 |
| Industrials | 3 | 21 | 45 | 9 -1 | 78 -1 |
| Oil & Gas | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Technology | 0 | 2 | 10 -1 | 2 | 14 -1 |
| Telecommunications | 0 | 2 +1 | 2 -1 | 1 | 5 |
| Utilities | 1 | 2 +1 | 0 -1 | 1 -1 | 4 -1 |
| Total | 10 | 62 +1 | 153 -3 | 31 -1 | 256 -3 |
Financial Year Rankings
The Financial Year List is a work in progress and is not as complete as the Calendar Year List. However the dividend history data for these companies is more accurate and complete.
Things looked better on a financial basis this month with four new companies added and one removed, for a net gain of three.
| FY Category | November | November | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dividend Growth 25+ years | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| Dividend Growth 10-24 Years | 65 | 65 | 0 |
| Dividend Growth 5-9 Years | 49 | 46 | +3 |
| Dividend Growth 1 to 4 Years | 30 | 30 | 0 |
| Total | 160 | 157 | +3 |
New FY Entries
The following companies were added to the FY Growth List based on new research.
| Company | Symbol | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Pennon Group plc | PNN | Added as a 13-year Contender |
| SCISYS plc | SSY | Added as a 7-year Challenger |
| HSBC Holdings plc | HSBA | Added as a 6-year Challenger |
| Renew Holdings plc | RNWH | Added as a 5-year Challenger |
Deleted FY Entries
The following companies were removed from the FY Growth List.
| Company | Symbol | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen Asset Management plc | ADN | FY 2016 dividend freeze |
Other FY Changes
The table below shows the other changes in the FY list this month for companies with 5+ years of growth.
| Company | Symbol | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Compass Group plc | CPG | Increased to 17-year growth |
| F&C Capital and Income Investment Trust plc | FCI | Increased to 23-year growth |
| Sage Group plc | SGE | Increased to 18-year growth |
Investment Trusts
The list contains Investment Trusts; you can easily identify them by filtering the Sector column “F” for Equity Investment Instruments, where you can either include or exclude them when viewing the list.
Fundamental Data
Entries in the list that have a “Founded” column have been manually researched and checked. The Dividend per Share and yield for these entries were calculated as of 4th December.
Dividend yield is calculated based on the most recent dividend declarations divided by the current share price. Special dividends are also not included in yield or DPS calculations as a general rule (there are one or two exceptions), so actual yields may be higher.
All dividend history data that I have is posted on DividendChampions.UK. The Excel file limits the length to the last 15 years.
Please keep in mind that the fundamental data will get increasingly out of date as the month progresses. You should always perform your own research and due diligence on any potential stock purchase and nothing in this post or the List is a recommendation to buy or sell.
Micro-Caps
The List includes AIM-listed companies which may be more volatile and unstable compared to larger FTSE-listed companies. To filter these out, you can use the index (Column C) and the Market Cap (Column O) to be more selective.
List Corrections
Current file version is dated 04-December-16.
04-December-16: Initial release.
Status update
The good: I’ve caught up on all but one of the 2016 dividend announcements on the companies that I’ve researched to date. Dee Valley Group (DVW) is overdue on their interim dividend announcement but they may be acquired by Severn Trent Water (SVT).
The bad: There are many more companies left to research in more detail.
Summary
In the next update, in early January, I’ll be re-working the list to account for 2017 which is soon upon us. Dealing with year changes is still a major pain but hopefully I can find a way to make it more straightforward. Look for the List on DividendChampions.UK towards the end of the first Sunday of the month (US Time).
Please let me know if you see any errors in the List, thank you!
Quote of the day
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.