The DivGro Weekly—21.08.26
222 Consecutive dividend increases
Weekly Dividend Progress
This week we received further real-time, tangible evidence of outstanding business progress when we collected our quarterly dividends from Abbott and Accenture and became entitled to our quarterly dividends from Cintas, Moody’s, MSCI and Wingstop, all meaningfully higher than this time last year.
How We Are Tracking
Since DivGro's inception we have predicted and benefited from 222 consecutive dividend increases across our portfolio companies, with no decreases. The average rate of these dividend increases is 13.9%.
Abbott
When Abbott, our global healthcare leader, paid its dividend earlier this week, it marked its 410th consecutive quarterly dividend payment — meaning it has paid dividends for nearly 103 years and consistently raised those dividends for each of the last 54 years. This robustness is especially meaningful in light of certain challenges Abbott has faced in recent years, though these are now firmly behind it. During Covid, Abbott’s test was deemed the ‘gold standard’, leading to booming sales which could not be sustained post-pandemic — something Abbott repeatedly highlighted in advance of those sales peaks. Following allegations of impurities in a production factory, Abbott was also forced to withdraw from its market leadership in infant formula. Notwithstanding these allegations — which have since been withdrawn — Abbott ultimately regained infant formula market leadership while developing new ascendant product lines including Freestyle Libre, which helped it grow sales above its Covid peak. Freestyle Libre is regarded as the most significant medical technological breakthrough in the last 50 years for its ability to monitor glucose levels. While its price may vary by country, Freestyle Libre requires fortnightly replacement, inextricably linking the product to its users and solidifying a growing and recurring ‘royalty-type’ sales stream for Abbott. This continued success, underpinned by the company’s famous ‘Abbott Way’ business formula, reflects Abbott’s proven capacity to grow and evolve — and thereby extend its peerless dividend credentials into the future.