The DivGro Weekly—12.08.22

104 Consecutive dividend increases

This week we received further real-time, tangible evidence of outstanding business progress when we received our quarterly dividends from Mastercard and Costco.

Having marked our calendars, we look forward to receiving our quarterly dividends from Pool Corp, MSCI, Wingstop and Visa shortly. 

Since DivGro's inception we have predicted and benefited from 104 consecutive dividend increases across our portfolio companies. The average rate of these dividend increases is 15.6%.

Costco benefits uniquely from its most precious asset being ultimate customer trust. This has enabled Costco to leverage its house brand - Kirkland - into one of the bestselling consumer brands in the world, with annual sales exceeding $60 billion. Whereas most house brands tend to be lower end (i.e. cheap but acceptable), Kirkland is a premium brand at value prices. An open secret is that Kirkland demands from its premium manufacturers that the product be at least 1% better than their own. While consumer attitudes towards most house brands is typically lukewarm, Kirkland is generally loved. Indeed, it acts as a magnet for tens of millions of Costco members who can't access Kirkland anywhere else. Distinctive assets such as Kirkland have powered Costco's excellent dividend growth record, rising every year since 2004 at an average of 13% per year (plus periodic generous special dividends as well).