This past weekend, using Sure Dividend’s, Sure Analysis Research Database, I stumbled across a company with a 50-year streak of annual dividend increases whose name I did not recognize. I am pretty familiar with the complete list of Dividend Kings, and I knew this one wasn’t on the list. I contacted Sure Dividend about the inconsistency and their founder and CEO, Ben Reynolds, responded in less than 12 hours. He confirmed that it would be added to the list and surmised that it was the first non-U.S. Dividend King.
The universe of Dividend Kings is growing, and I am keeping my eye on a dozen or so that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, will make the list in the next two years. Nevertheless, it is always a pleasure to see another company make this exclusive list.
All hail Canadian Utilities Limited!
Canadian Utilities Ltd [CDUAF]
Here’s the description from the Canadian version of Yahoo! Finance:
Canadian Utilities Limited and its subsidiaries engage in the electricity, natural gas, and retail energy businesses worldwide. It operates through Utilities, Energy Infrastructure, and Corporate & Other segments. The Utilities segment provides regulated electricity transmission and distribution services in northern and central east Alberta, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories; and integrated natural gas transmission and distribution services in Alberta, the Lloydminster area of Saskatchewan, and Western Australia. It owns and operates approximately 9,000 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, 16 compressor sites, approximately 3,700 receipt and delivery points, and a salt cavern storage peaking facility located near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta in Canada. The Energy Infrastructure segment provides electricity generation, natural gas storage, industrial water, and related infrastructure development solutions in Alberta, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Australia, Mexico, and Chile. The Corporate & Other segment retails electricity and natural gas business in Alberta. The company was incorporated in 1927 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. Canadian Utilities Limited is a subsidiary of ATCO Ltd.
Based in Canada
Canadian Utilities Ltd is an international company doing business in several countries, but they are based in Canada. It trades as CU.X (Class A shares) and CU.TO (Class B shares) on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). However, an individual living in the United States can acquire shares over the counter (OTC) under the ticker symbol CDUAF. They have declared three quarters of dividend so far in 2022, each at $0.4442 per share. In 2021, the dividend was $0.4398 for all four quarters. Those amounts are in Canadian dollars. A shareholder of CDUAF in the states will see lower dividends that fluctuate with the exchange rate. Below are the last few quarters of dividends for CDUAF.
One can view their dividend history back to 1972, in Canadian dollars, here. I suppose that it is entirely possible for a holder of CDUAF over the years to have seen their dividend from one year to the next actually drop, entirely due to changes in the currency exchange rate. Rest assured though, the U.S. stock price is lower in the same proportion and thus the yield is the same in each currency.
CDUAF falls into the Utilities sector and joins five other Kings in that sector. However, they are considered to be in the Multi-Utilities industry and the only other King with that industry listing is Black Hills Corp [BKH]. Perhaps a utility will be the next portfolio addition. It could even be Canadian Utilities Ltd; we’ll just have to wait and see.