9 December 2010
In May each year, after publication of the annual results, I publish a list of the large companies in Europe with the highest dividend yields.
This article is an update on the performance of the 13 May 2010 article that can be found here:
Europe’s highest dividend yields 2010 ? 13 May 2010
The performance of the top dividend payers has been very good with both the top 10 and my selection outperforming the European STOXX 600 index.
The top 10 European highest dividend payers generated an average return (including the dividend) of 9,3% outperforming the European STOXX 600 index 5,4%.
This is higher than my selection which returned and average of 6,9% also outperforming the STOXX 600 index by 3,1%.
The top performer, up nearly 41%, was Seadrill, the Norwegian contract drilling company. Of course the company I did not select.
And the worse performer BP Plc, down 17,7% due to the explosion of its drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
Surprising was the poor performance of the German electricity utilities E.ON (-6,4%) and RWE (-13%) down nearly as much as BP. These declines were most likely caused by tax uncertainty in Germany, specifically around the special tax on nuclear power stations.
I think the decline is completely overdone and RWE with a current yield of 7,25% and E.ON at 6,74% are both really attractive.
Source: Financial Times
Here is the complete table of returns:
| My Pics | Name | Price | Industry | Dividend yield (%) 13.05.10 | Total Return | Performance against STOXX 600 Index | Price 02.12.10 |
| 1 | DEUTSCHE TELEKOM AG-REG | 8.80 | Telephone-Integrated | 8.9 | 21.9% | 18.1% | 9.95 |
| 2 | FRANCE TELECOM SA | 16.15 | Telephone-Integrated | 8.7 | 5.7% | 1.9% | 15.67 |
| 3 | VIVENDI | 18.13 | Multimedia | 7.7 | 15.2% | 11.3% | 19.48 |
| SEADRILL LTD | 147.70 | Oil&Gas Drilling | 6.9 | 40.8% | 36.9% | 197.7 | |
| BP PLC | 549.20 | Oil Comp-Integrated | 6.7 | -13.8% | -17.7% | 436.15 | |
| ENEL SPA | 3.83 | Electric-Integrated | 6.5 | 1.8% | -2.0% | 3.65 | |
| SCOTTISH & SOUTHERN ENERGY | 1077 | Electric-Integrated | 6.2 | 9.7% | 5.8% | 1114 | |
| ENI SPA | 16.47 | Oil Comp-Integrated | 6.1 | 0.2% | -3.6% | 15.51 | |
| 4 | ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC-B | 1816 | Oil Comp-Integrated | 6.0 | 14.8% | 10.9% | 1975 |
| NATIONAL GRID PLC | 608 | Electric-Transmission | 6.0 | -3.4% | -7.3% | 550.5 | |
| 5 | E.ON AG | 25.32 | Electric-Integrated | 6.0 | -6.4% | -10.2% | 22.2 |
| 6 | RWE AG | 59.58 | Electric-Integrated | 5.9 | -13.0% | -16.9% | 48.3 |
| 7 | GDF SUEZ | 25.87 | Electric-Integrated | 5.8 | 5.4% | 1.6% | 25.77 |
| 8 | TOTAL SA | 40.23 | Oil Comp-Integrated | 5.7 | -1.6% | -5.5% | 37.29 |
| 9 | VODAFONE GROUP PLC | 139 | Cellular Telecom | 5.7 | 24.0% | 20.2% | 164.55 |
| 10 | TELEFONICA SA | 17.20 | Telephone-Integrated | 5.4 | 3.3% | -0.5% | 16.83 |
| MUENCHENER RUECKVER AG | 106.00 | Reinsurance | 5.4 | 9.1% | 5.2% | 109.85 | |
| BANCO SANTANDER SA | 9.50 | Commer Banks Non-US | 5.1 | -12.6% | -16.4% | 7.82 | |
| GLAXOSMITHKLINE PLC | 1187.5 | Medical-Drugs | 5.1 | 8.0% | 4.1% | 1222 | |
| DEUTSCHE POST AG-REG | 11.93 | Transport-Services | 5.0 | 9.0% | 5.2% | 12.41 | |
| ASTRAZENECA PLC | 2850 | Medical-Drugs | 5.0 | 11.1% | 7.2% | 3032.5 | |
| ALLIANZ SE-REG | 83.03 | Multi-line Insurance | 4.9 | 9.0% | 5.1% | 86.37 | |
| TELECOM ITALIA SPA | 1.03 | Telephone-Integrated | 4.8 | -1.0% | -4.8% | 0.97 | |
| BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO | 2069 | Tobacco | 4.8 | 17.9% | 14.1% | 2340 | |
| BAE SYSTEMS PLC | 339.6 | Aerospace/Defense | 4.7 | 1.2% | -2.7% | 327.6 |
If you are still not convinced of the benefits of investing in high dividend paying companies this will be worth your time.
Tweedy Browne, the well known value investment management company has published an excellent research report on their website that summarises all the research on high dividend investing in one place.
The paper can be found in the Research and Reports part of their website and is called:
My previous European high dividend yield articles can be found here:
Europe’s highest dividend yields 2010 ? 13 May 2010
Europe’s highest dividend yields 2010 ? Update ? 5 November 2009
Europe’s highest dividend yields 2009 ? 22 May 2009
Happy dividend hunting
Tim du Toit
