Global consumer goods producers, such as Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser, which now prefers to be known as RB, increasingly present investors with a difficult choice. Unlike the drinks producers, they seem little affected by the turndown in emerging markets.
It seems that consumers in China, India and elsewhere will continue to pay a premium for well-known brands, such as RB’s Dettol, Harpic or Strepsils, or Unilever’s Dove soap or Hellman’s spreads. So the shares keep on rising.
These are utterly reliable payers of dividends, too, when some of the big payments elsewhere, such as in mining, are under threat. Obviously, though, the higher the shares go, the less impressive the dividend yield.
I suggested the other day that Unilever was looking a bit toppy,