LONDON -- Temple Bar Investment Trust (TMPL 0.20%) has a record of 29 years of unbroken dividend growth. The trust lifted its dividend by 4% in 2012 and, at a current share price of 1,132 pence, the trailing yield is 3.2%.
Picking great dividend shares has helped Temple Bar outperform the FTSE All-Share Index over the past three, five and 10 years.
Let's take a look at Temple Bar's current top three holdings: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK 0.09%), HSBC Holdings (HSBA -0.21%), and Vodafone (VOD -0.98%) (VOD -1.21%).
GlaxoSmithKline
Top Footsie pharmaceuticals firm GlaxoSmithKline released encouraging first-quarter results last week. The drugs, vaccines, and consumer health care giant reported continuing progress on core sales, restructuring efficiencies and its drugs pipeline.
The company said it expects turnover growth of 1% (at constant exchange rates) for 2013 and core earnings per share (EPS) to rise 3%-4%. City experts reckon EPS growth will accelerate to 8% the following year.
Having lifted its 2012 full-year dividend by 5.7%, GSK announced a 5.9% rise for the 2013 first-quarter payout. Analysts are forecasting dividend growth to continue at around this pace for both the current full year and 2014. The shares, trading at 1,656 pence, offer a prospective income of 4.7% for investors buying today.
HSBC
Banking behemoth HSBC offers the best geographical diversification and highest dividend yield of the FTSE 100's five banks.
The company said within its last annual results that it had made a good start to the new year, and that the board intends to raise the first three interim dividends for 2013 by 11%. Further ahead, analysts have pencilled in the same rate of growth for both EPS and the dividend in 2014.
HSBC's shares are currently trading at 704 pence, and City expectations for the 2013 full-year dividend give a prospective income of 4.7% for investors today.
Vodafone
Global telecoms giant Vodafone has been much in the news of late. Talk of a mammoth bid for the company's 40% stake in U.S. firm Verizon Wireless has been rife -- as has speculation of what Vodafone might do with the proceeds if the deal materialized.
Vodafone's annual ordinary dividend growth has been running at 7% for the last three years. Expectations are for a rise of the same order for the year ended March 2013 when the company announces its final results later this month. At a current share price of 194 pence, the stock offers an income of 5.3%.
At one time it looked as if Vodafone might pay shareholders additional special dividends on a regular basis as a result of dividend distributions by Verizon Wireless. However, Vodafone had disappointed income investors on that score even before the speculation about the future of Verizon Wireless came to the boil. Still, a 5.3% income from the ordinary dividend will punch the buttons of many investors.
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