Wednesday 1 April 2015

March 2015: Dividend Income and Trading Activity

Every month I provide a breakdown of the dividend income received from the shareholdings in my portfolio. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.
  • BHP Billiton--£23.95
    • Bought 1 more share.
  • BP--£15.41
    • Bought 3 more shares.
  • Catlin Group--£22.44
    • Bought 3 more shares.
  • Royal Dutch Shell "B"--£10.61
  • SSE--£10.91
  • Unilever--£8.71
Total for March: £92.03 ($136.52).

What a great month. March sees me nearly breach the £100 monthly dividend income mark and at over £92 leaves me with the second strongest month ever. It is still quite a bit short of December 2014's total, however, which remains my single strongest month (although it was helped greatly by a huge special dividend from Lancashire).

This month is also way ahead of March 2014. Last year my portfolio only managed £21.60. As a result, March 2015 is a 426% increase on 2014. That is quite a surprisingly large progress in a year!

What is also great is that it is from a nicely diverse body of companies. Oil and commodities do make up a large part. However, insurance, utilities and consumer defensive all contributed their own bit.

March and My Goals

March also represents another healthy step towards my 2015 dividend goal of £800. So how close am I to my target now? Well, with this month's cash I am now at a total of £165.21 for the year. This leaves me at an excellent 20.65% towards my total:


And what about my Work Freedom Day? How many days have I bought myself for this year? The answer: 5 January 2015

This is better progress and has been helped by a lowering of my monthly expenses average to £839. Hopefully if this trend is continued I should easily hit my target of 3 February 2015 by the end of the year!

This stronger month has also seen my monthly average income almost double. It now sits at £55.07. That is nearly £20 higher than the monthly average achieved by last month. This also means that it currently stands at more than double the average for the whole of 2014. Looking good!

The even better news? The next two months are going to be very strong indeed and should see me comfortably passing the £100 mark and my previous highest monthly income total. Watch this space! 


Portfolio Additions

Also during the month I made several acquisitions. I added a new FTSE 100 company:
I also added two new holdings from the FTSE 250:
All in all, these new additions should add about £67 to my predicted annual dividend income. 

In the case of Amlin, I should see both an interim and final dividend dropping into my account in the 2015 calendar year. The same applies to Hansteen.

With Babcock I will only see a single dividend cheque falling into my account as they have already paid their interim dividend in January, before my purchase.

How did you do?

How did your dividend income look for March? What new holdings did you pick up or old ones topped up? 

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[Creative Commons image from Flickr user 401(k) 2012]

12 comments:

  1. Hey man, nice dividend receipts for March! We got about £40 this month, it's our worst month, with April being the second worst. As you know, we bought Bloomsbury and giftgaming this month... so, are you going to take the plunge on Bloomsbury next month?!

    Cheers

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    Replies
    1. Yes, not bad at all is it! I was quite chuffed. Last year included Barclays as well in March (this year it is paid in April) so I am well ahead on that result!

      We are at opposite ends then! For me, March is solid, April is great and May looks equally good as well! Looking forward to doing the final totals for then!

      Yes, just waiting to see two things (1) whether electioneering causes a market drop to take advantage of, and (2) how much money I actually have for purchases! I either have a lot or little. I can't work it out yet so As a result, (mostly the second!) I am keeping my powder dry for now.

      Bloomsbury is on my top watchlist alongside Berendsen and RPC. However, the recent volatility has meant others have been making themselves known! Rolls Royce, BAE Systems (which I believe you hold?), AstraZeneca, WPP, Tate & Lyle and others!

      I am hoping that maybe I will have enough to do two purchases this month. One I hope to be high dividend yield and another high dividend growth. Bloomsbury fits neatly in the high yield category!

      Watch this space!

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  2. yes, we are totally opposite. This is just for my NISA though, the other accounts are much more even throughout the year in the inc/acc units.

    I do have BAE already, but I am loathe to increase it only because I got it really cheap last year!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I regretted not buying into BAE last year! Even with the fairly solid rise since then it still looks pretty good value. I think I do prefer Rolls Royce slightly, though, of the two. Have you looked at Rolls before?

      Yes, I forget your investments are more spread out than mine across different accounts!

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  3. Good job on getting your second strongest month ever. I've got BP and BLT too but in smaller quantities, plus I bought AML too this month!

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    1. Thanks weenie! I am very happy so far this year!

      Amlin does look very appealing and is a nice replacement (or preparatory replacement) for Catlin. We will be getting our first Amlin dividends in May then! Exciting! It will be a hefty contributor to that bumper month for me.

      BP and BLT are somewhat thumped at the moment aren't they?! I am sorely tempted to top up on BLT. I think it is a highly appealing long term hold. I suspect it may have to cut the dividend slightly after the South32 spin-off if iron ore/oil prices don't pick up. But it should still leave a healthy yield (rather akin to the recent Centrica situation). We will see though, their balance sheet seems solid at the moment!

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  4. Hi DD,

    Congrats on a great month - so close to three digits!

    I had BLT (BBL) income too this month for the first time though only $12 - I'm spoiled by the quarterly payment of US stocks so I have to wait longer for their dividends.

    I looked into Centrica's dividend history earlier this month - ironically I increased their growth history to 14 years based on new data. Their recent dividend cut will bump them from my List later this year though.

    I should be posting the updated List tomorrow - I ran out of time tonight and writing a post to describe the updates always seems to take longer than it should.

    Best wishes,
    -DL

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, DL! Yes, it was infuriatingly short of the £100 mark! But, as I say, the next two months easily sail past that milestone again!

      That sounds interesting with regards Centrica. In reality, although the dividends of utilities are quite often slightly cut (more so than I think people realise) they are rarely heavily. Centrica--even without a string of increases--is still a very solid dividend performer!

      I look forward to seeing the updated list! I know what you mean with the updates list taking longer than expected. Those sort of things always do!

      I still have not checked my preliminary list of UK Dividend Aristocrats to see if it includes ones you don't. I will do so soon! Do you have an email address? It may be easier to send any suggestions that way.

      Delete
    2. Hi DD,

      My email is dividendlife@live.com - feel free to email whenever.

      Best wishes,
      -DL

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    3. Great once I get time to compare notes I will ping any differences over!

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  5. DD,

    Excellent month! Almost at that magical £100 threshold - won't be long now.

    When quickly looking at the list above it seems we share four companies that rewarded us with a dividend: BLT, BP, RDSB and ULVR. I guess that says a lot about the dividend history and long-term prospects of these businesses. Let's hope they continue to serve us well!

    Keep it up, you're doing great,
    NMW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, NMW.

      Yes, this month should easily sail pass the £100 mark again and past my December 2014 "best".

      Yes, four megacaps who hopefully will serve us well. Of course, the first three look a little like precarious dividend picks at the moment! However, their balance sheets still look robust enough to get through it!

      Thanks. Same to you! We're making slow but steady progress! Thanks for dropping by.

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