Debenhams plc today announces its trading update for the 19 weeks to 10 January 2015.

Highlights
· Strongperformance in the key Christmas period: 4 weeks to 10 January
o LFL sales up 4.9%
o Online sales up 28.9%
· Record Group sales in the 7 days prior to Christmas
· Good performance on Black Friday within an existing Debenhams promotional event with sales in the week up 10.3%. Online orders on the day up 125%
· Good progress on the five priorities laid out at the Interims in April 2014
o 10 fewer days on promotion
o 12.1% increase in own bought full price sell-through
· Stock levels under control with terminal stock forecast at historically low levels

Historically speaking, investors who bought shares of Diageo (NYSE:DEO) with a 3% starting dividend yield have done quite well with their rate of compounding from that point forward. If you bought shares of Diageo at the 3% yield point in 1996, you went on to compound at 11.3% annually. If you did it in 2003, you went on to compound at 11.5% annually. If you did it in 2006, you went on to compound at 9.5% annually. If you did it in 2010, you went on to compound at 14.3% annually. History is on your side when you initiate a position in Diageo with at least a 3% dividend yield.

At the time of this writing, Diageo trades at $115 per share and pays out a $3.54 annual dividend. That works out to a starting dividend yield of 3.07%. The reason why it is possible to use starting dividend yields as a guide with a company like Diageo is because the company tends to maintain a consistent payout ratio through the years, and earns a reliably predictable return on the retained profits kept by management to grow the business.

People often look for steady returns in their portfolio, and it's hard to think of a stock that is much steadier than Diageo. The payout ratio has been between 40% and 63% for the past twenty years, and currently sits at 54%. With its retained profits, Diageo has earned returns between 17% and 20% annually during each year for the past ten years. This has translated into an ability to grow earnings per share by 9.5% each year for the past ten years, despite paying out roughly half of its profits to shareholders each year.

insider schreef:NVAX
DPRX

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