The UK has the largest number of companies listed in the US markets after Canada. Among the many British ADRs, some stocks are good picks for dividend income. To select the British ADRs that are excellent dividend payers I used the The International Dividend Achievers Index.
Mergent created The International Dividend Achievers Index to track the performance of solid companies with increasing dividend payments. The components of this index have the following characteristics:
- Incorporated outside the United States
- Trade on the NYSE, NASDAQ or AMEX
- Increased annual regular dividend payments for the last five or more consecutive years
- Average daily cash volume exceed $500,000 per day in November and December before index reconstitution in January
13 British ADRs from The International Dividend Achievers Index are:
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The utility National Grid plc (NGG) has the highest dividend yield at 6.63%. The British oil giant has a dividend yield exceeding 5%. Among the large banks only HSBC Holdings (HBC) made it to the list. HSBC survived the financial crisis more easily than others. Unilever, British American Tobacco and Cadburys have significant presence in emerging markets.
