takeover, page-5

another good article




We've followed the Foster's story at The Intelligent Investor for many years. And for most of the recent past we've sat on the sidelines, vocal critics of past management's terrible wine acquisition strategy (you can read the reasons why in this analysis).

Now, new management is squarely facing reality and the company is being run in a more intelligent, shareholder-friendly manner. Best of all, after years of the share price moving sideways, the stock now offers reasonable value.

As you can see in the chart above, Foster's Group's dividend has grown at 7.2% a year over the past five years and 7.7% per year over the past decade, despite some terribly costly mistakes. This impressive rate of growth continued over 2007-2009 when many other companies were cutting their dividends, a testament to the beer business's ability to generate excess cash.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/lifting-a-glass-to-fosters-shares-20100519-ve7t.html