Comments on: International Income Investing

By: dizzy7

dizzy7 — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 14:43:47 +0000

streetcar – Sorry about the misunderstanding. We agree completely about the current/future Unilever dividend payment policy.

By: streetcar

streetcar — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:55:34 +0000

dizzy7 – I was not actually replying to your comment, but to the original post. It just appeared after your comment due to the comment approval process.

The quarterly Unilever dividends in the future will be equal every quarter. Now the distribution has been about 35% for the interim in December and the rest 65% for the final dividend in May.

By: dizzy7

dizzy7 — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:49:48 +0000

streetcar—Please re-read my comment. I said that they will be switching to quarterly payments next year, 2010. From the investor center section of their website: “Unilever intends to move to quarterly dividends in 2010 establishing a simpler and more transparent dividend practice.”

By: TMT

TMT — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:09:56 +0000

I have been watching (not an owner yet)
EVT, GDV and UTG.

Each does have int’l.

By: Dividends4Life

Dividends4Life — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:24:02 +0000

BD: Of the ETFs I invest in ETO is one of the better ones. I like it much better than PID. However, it did cut its dividend from $0.18 to $0.117, so it is tainted. I am still holding it.

Best Wishes,
D4L

By: streetcar

streetcar — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:52:55 +0000

Check your facts on Unilever (and how companies pay dividends based solely on earnings).

Unilever pays dividends twice a year, an interim one and a final one. The interim one is always smaller than the final one, here’s the Unilever PLC ADR’s dividends last couple of years:

Interim for 2007 $0.3525
Final for 2007 $0.6615
Interim Dividend 2008 $0.3301
Final Dividend 2008 $0.5780

In dollars the dividend is decreasing, but that’s just because of the currency rates. In euros (for Unilever NV) the dividend has been increasing for years now.

By: dizzy7

dizzy7 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:48:47 +0000

Two comments about Unilever:

Starting in 2010 they will be switching to quarterly dividend payments, and the reason the size varies so greatly is that they pay 35% of the annual dividend in November and 65% in May.

I’m not sure if the quarterly payments will be of equal size during each year or if they will vary as do the current semiannual payments, but in any case they will continue to be in either Euro’s or British pounds (depending on whether you own UL or UN) so the problem of currency fluctuations will remain. Personally, I’d like to own Unilever stock, but don’t because the currency exchange factor makes it possible for the dividend I receive to go down even tho the company increases it in their currency.

By: BD

BD — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:39:10 +0000

I just started investing in ETO (yield and expense ratio seemed reasonable plus 19% discount currently). Anything specifically you dislike about it?