Vodafone Group dominated the financial front pages last week when it became the latest FTSE 100 dividend share to hack the annual dividend.
There’s never been a better time for investors to go hunting for income on Britain’s elite stock index, largely speaking, though Vodafone is unlikely to be the last blue-chip to slash payouts this year. I picked out a retailer and a utilities supplier in recent days that could both be on the precipice of reducing shareholder rewards, and they’re unlikely to be the only Footsie firms to curtail dividends in the coming months.
Flying high
If you fancy grabbing some dividend stocks, but want to avoid the FTSE 100 for the time being, happily there’s no shortage of income heroes to choose from. Indeed, big yielder BBA Aviation (LSE: BBA) is one FTSE 250 share I’m tipping to keep increasing dividends, and most recent financials reinforced my bullishness on the business.
I’ve long lauded the brilliant sales opportunities the company’s M&A-led growth strategy has provided, and in the first four months of 2019 revenues at group level boomed 23.1%. The result revealed the impact that recent acquisitions action, like the purchase of fuel supplier EPIC and component builder Firstmark in 2018, have had on the top line.
Despite the impact of slowing business and general aviation traffic in the US, the vast investment BBA Aviation has made in recent years to bolster its geographic footprint and range of solutions is allowing it to outperform the broader market by some distance (while US aviation activity rose just 0.3% between January and March, revenues at the company’s flagship Signature flight support division increased 1.2% on a like-for-like basis).
It’s no wonder City analysts are expecting earnings, as well as dividends, to keep rising through to the close of next year, meaning investors can enjoy juicy yields of 4.2% and 4.4% for 2019 and 2020, respectively. Chuck its undemanding forward P/E ratio of 15.4 times into the equation and I think BBA is a great stock to pick up today.
Bank on big dividends
Before I let you go, I also want to highlight Bank of Georgia (LSE: BGEO) as another share from the FTSE 250 I expect to keep growing shareholder payouts too.
I last covered the emerging market share when it announced ripping revenues growth in 2018, and I’m pleased to say trading has remained ultra-encouraging since. Last week, the bank declared profit before tax (and excluding one-off termination payments to management) exploded 10.6% between January and March to 122.7m Georgian lari, while its loan book surged by a staggering 14.7% year-on-year at constant currencies.
Bank of Georgia is thriving thanks to the twin drivers of breakneck economic growth in the Eurasian nation’s economy and the low levels of banking product penetration there. And it’s why the number crunchers are expecting earnings to keep swelling over the next couple of years here as well.
Oh, and speaking of those dividends, expectations of bright growth to the end of 2020 results in giant yields of 5.5% and 6.4% for this year and next, respectively. Chuck a low forward P/E ratio of 6 times into the bargain too, and I reckon Bank of Georgia is a terrific income titan to load up on right now.
