The DivGro Weekly—31.01.25

179 Consecutive dividend increases

Weekly Dividend Progress

This week we received further real-time, tangible evidence of outstanding business progress when S&P Global increased its dividend by 5.5% and MSCI increased its dividend by 12.5%. We also became entitled to our quarterly dividend from Lowe’s, higher than this time last year.

How We Are Tracking

Since DivGro's inception we have predicted and benefited from 179 consecutive dividend increases across our portfolio companies, with no decreases. The average rate of these dividend increases is 14.5%.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s, together with DivGro sister holding Home Depot, controls north of 30 per cent of the one trillion-dollar home improvement, repair and maintenance channel in North America. Since its 1961 IPO, Lowe’s has increased its dividend annually at a compounded growth rate exceeding 15 per cent per annum — driving a 7000x multiplication of its share value in tandem. With more than a century in business, what drives the success of Lowe’s? (and its duopoly player Home Depot)? Both leaders enjoy multiple scale advantages — which translate into significant cost benefits — and which they elect to share with their customers via the lowest possible prices. These low prices, which cannot be matched by competitors, effectively create a competitive moat, cultivating consumer loyalty and simultaneously providing Lowe’s (and Home Depot) the freedom to grow on its own terms. Accordingly, Lowe’s benefits from an installed — and growing — base of homes that require never-ending maintenance and repair. As these homes age (the average home in the US is now more than 40 years old), their inevitable repair provides runway for Lowe’s to extend its success long into the future.