A Bid for GlaxoSmithKline? Running the Numbers on the Buy-out Speculation

I don't normally pay much attention to bid speculation regarding companies I hold. If a bid comes together, fine, I will think about it then. However, without that I generally ignore the noise.

The recent speculation about pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is different for me though for several reasons:

1. Size of Holding: My GSK holding is by far the biggest single holding I have at about 10%. 
2. Dividend Contribution: Its weight in my portfolio and dividend yield means that it contributes about 15% of my current dividend income.
3. Sector Trends: There is a lot of merger and acquisition activity in the healthcare sector which means rumours may not be far off the mark. Indeed, another of my holdings--AstraZeneca--was recently subject to a failed bid by Pfizer.
4. Prominence of GSK: GSK is a large and widely held international company so I know there will be some interest in these rumours.

As a result, I have decided to humour the rumours and run the numbers both generally and specifically for my own holding.

My Weekly Worthies: On Here, Over There (and Over To You)--25 July 2015

It is that time again. Another week, another round-up of weekly worthies. This time, I have given it a bit of a facelift after suggestions from readers (thanks!).

Time to settle down with a nice well-brewed drink (tea, coffee, beer...whatever your fancy) and maybe a biscuit, cake or two and catch up with what has been published during the week related to financial independence, early retirement, frugality and personal finance more generally (with a little of other bits and pieces thrown in).

As usual, last week's bumper post pulled in a mighty amount of interest from you all. Hopefully there is plenty in here to catch your interest again.

As always, this is going to include your favourite articles "On Here" (that is on The Dividend Drive) and my favourite articles "Over There" (that is, on other personal finance sites I read).

And "Over To You"? Well that is an invite for you to highlight any articles you came across that you found interesting and not included in the list below.

Anyway, here goes my list for 25 July. Enjoy!

PS: If you want to look at the archive of previous weekly round-up articles then head over to my Every(ish) Posts page. Here you will find all the articles (except portfolio purchase-related ones) published on the Dividend Drive as well as every weekly round-up to date. Take a look.

The Maestro's Movers: Neil Woodford's Big Buys and Sells in June 2015

Stock stalking is a weird hobby.

In general I do not "follow" any particular investor's activities. However, there are a couple that I have followed of sorts because I like their investment style. One of them is Neil Woodford

I watch Woodford's fund quite carefully to get some ideas. In particular, doing this with Woodford is extremely easy as--I am sure many of you know this--he publishes the entire breakdown of his fund each month. A very unusual action.

Since launch I have been assiduously collecting this data and building a little spreadsheet to see how things are changing. I've realised that this work--which is not a tiny amount--may be of interest to some of you.

So here I will offer a little breakdown of the companies that Woodford has bought and sold in June 2015.

My Weekly Worthies: On Here, Over There (and Over To You)--18 July 2015

It is that time again. Another week, another round-up of weekly worthies. This time, I have given it a bit of a facelift after suggestions from readers (thanks!).

Time to settle down with a nice well-brewed drink (tea, coffee, beer...whatever your fancy) and maybe a biscuit, cake or two and catch up with what has been published during the week related to financial independence, early retirement, frugality and personal finance more generally (with a little of other bits and pieces thrown in).

As usual, last week's bumper post pulled in a mighty amount of interest from you all. Hopefully there is plenty in here to catch your interest again.

As always, this is going to include your favourite articles "On Here" (that is on The Dividend Drive) and my favourite articles "Over There" (that is, on other personal finance sites I read).

And "Over To You"? Well that is an invite for you to highlight any articles you came across that you found interesting and not included in the list below.

Anyway, here goes my list for 18 July. Enjoy!

PS: If you want to look at the archive of previous weekly round-up articles then head over to my Every(ish) Posts page. Here you will find all the articles (except portfolio purchase-related ones) published on the Dividend Drive as well as every weekly round-up to date. Take a look.

June 2015 Goals Progress Report: First Half

Believe it or not we are already in July.

That means we have already seen half the year pass and it is time for a fresh review of my progress so far towards my investing goals for the year.

My last update at the first quarter mark of the year showed me making good progress. Has this been repeated now we top over into the second part of the year?

Let's take a quick look.

My Weekly Worthies: On Here, Over There (and Over To You)--11 July 2015

It is that time again. Another week, another round-up of weekly worthies. This time, I have given it a bit of a facelift after suggestions from readers (thanks!).

Time to settle down with a nice well-brewed drink (tea, coffee, beer...whatever your fancy) and maybe a biscuit, cake or two and catch up with what has been published during the week related to financial independence, early retirement, frugality and personal finance more generally (with a little of other bits and pieces thrown in).

As usual, last week's bumper post pulled in a mighty amount of interest from you all. Hopefully there is plenty in here to catch your interest again.

As always, this is going to include your favourite articles "On Here" (that is on The Dividend Drive) and my favourite articles "Over There" (that is, on other personal finance sites I read).

And "Over To You"? Well that is an invite for you to highlight any articles you came across that you found interesting and not included in the list below.

Anyway, here goes my list for 11 July. Enjoy!

PS: If you want to look at the archive of previous weekly round-up articles then head over to my Every(ish) Posts page. Here you will find all the articles (except portfolio purchase-related ones) published on the Dividend Drive as well as every weekly round-up to date. Take a look.

Taxing Times: Dividend Tax Changes in the UK Government's June 2015 Budget

Sorry this comes so hot on the heels of my analysis post regarding my recent Rolls-Royce purchase earlier today.

However, it's that time again. When people sit there trying to figure out whether they are better or worse off after the tinkering of governments. Oh joy.

This time round saw the first "pure blue" Conservative budget since 1996 (when I had not even reached a decade of life).

Needless to say--as a dividend investor--the thing that caught my eye was the changes to the tax relating to dividends.

Here I am going to have a go at understanding what has changed and how it may affect (an admittedly fictional) me and others with a couple of case studies. Such is the nature of tax policy with its various caveats, overlaps and more I am sure this remains somewhat incomplete. If so, please do add your comments below. I will adjust as I find out more!

For the financial independence fighters amongst you. I have an tax question in the final case study which--if you can--it would be great if you could answer!

Anyway, here we go.

BUY: Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR)--Preparing to Power Future Earnings?

Price: 783.8p
Shares: 86
Predicted annual dividend income: £19.57

Two purchase in quick succession. After my recent AstraZeneca top-up, I turned my eyes to a fresh addition helped by circumstances.

On Monday the news broke that Greece had voted "no" to accepting the bailout proposal offered to them. Over here in the UK the effect on the FTSE--although certainly negative--was rather more muted than I expected.

Nonetheless, Rolls-Royce Holdings was a stand-out faller with it edging near to a 10% drop in one day. This sharp day drop was preceded by drops of 1.52% and 2.28% the two trading days before.

Why? Well it seemed there was a perfect storm in the making. Greek crisis, a third profit warning and the company recently paying out their Final dividend. All in all, it seemed a large number of investors had decided it was time to jump ship for now. Fair enough.

Nonetheless, for me this was the perfect opportunity to jump on board. I have been wanting to initiate a position in the engineering giant for well over a year. So I was glad to do so when it was just above its 52 week low.

BUY: AstraZeneca (AZN)--Further into Pharma?

Price: 4048.88
Shares: 18
Predicted annual dividend income: £32 (this purchase) and £59 (entire holding)

A couple of you may have noticed that the sad economic plight of Greece has had a teeny-weeny effect on the global markets. The UK market was no different. The FTSE 100 index dropped about 2% on 29 June with a further 1.5% on 30 June. Pretty hefty.

But, of course, the FTSE 100's different constituents each got hit by the sell-off to different extents. Some got hit harder, some less so. But what about my recent buy, AstraZeneca?

Well, AstraZeneca got hit even harder over this period after a fairly consistent price slide in recent times. On 29 June it dropped 2.31% with another 1.9% shed the next day. Pretty shocking to see as a shareholder.

I bought into the company in May after its share price slide--post-Pfizer bid--had seemingly been well developed. From its high of about £49 it had slipped to £44. I must admit that I had not expected to see it a little over a month after dropping to its 52 week low just above £40.

However, these are the opportunities that a long-term dividend investor is looking for.

It actually took me two days to hit the buy button. First because I wanted to see how things developed as it was clear that markets were not finished selling off yet. But also because so many opportunities had shown themselves. My options, really, boiled down to this:

1. Top-up my AstraZeneca holding (down 9% since purchase);
2. Top-up one of my insurer holdings. Either Legal & General (down 8%), Old Mutual (up 6%) or--less likely--Amlin (down 6%).
3. Open a new position. Rolls Royce, in particular, caught my eye.

In the end, I went for option 1 and bought AstraZeneca on 30 June. But why? Let's take a look.

My Weekly Worthies: On Here, Over There (and Over To You)--4 July 2015

It is that time again. Another week, another round-up of weekly worthies. This time, I have given it a bit of a facelift after suggestions from readers (thanks!).

Time to settle down with a nice well-brewed drink (tea, coffee, beer...whatever your fancy) and maybe a biscuit, cake or two and catch up with what has been published during the week related to financial independence, early retirement, frugality and personal finance more generally (with a little of other bits and pieces thrown in).

As usual, last week's post pulled in a mighty amount of interest from you all. Hopefully there is plenty in here to catch your interest again.

As always, this is going to include your favourite articles "On Here" (that is on The Dividend Drive) and my favourite articles "Over There" (that is, on other personal finance sites I read).

And "Over To You"? Well that is an invite for you to highlight any articles you came across that you found interesting and not included in the list below.

Anyway, here goes my list for 4 July. Enjoy!

PS: If you want to look at the archive of previous weekly round-up articles then head over to my Every(ish) Posts page. Here you will find all the articles (except portfolio purchase-related ones) published on the Dividend Drive as well as every weekly round-up to date. Take a look.

June 2015: Dividend Income, Trading Activity and Portfolio Snapshot

Every month I am going to be providing a breakdown of the dividend income received from my shares. The overall monthly total will be included on the main “Dividends Received” page.

• Barclays--£4.10
• Bought 1 new share
• BP--£15.28
• Bought 3 new shares
• Carillion--£18.47
• Bought 5 new shares
• Imperial Tobacco--£4.49
• Royal Dutch Shell "B"--£19.68
• Bought 1 new share
• Unilever--£8.72
• XL Group--£0.30

Total for June: £71.04 ($111.65).