Whitbread - A Quality Company from the UK

I'm following a lot of companies from the US, like Kroger and TEVA, but this time I would like to introduce a quality company from the UK. Whitbread Plc (WTB) is the UK's largest hotel, restaurant and coffee shop operator serving millions of customers every week. They serve their customers through their two businesses: Premier Inn & Restaurants and Costa. Premier Inn has over 760 hotels in the UK, and also has hotels in the Middle East and Germany. Costa operates more than 3,500 coffee shops. It's brand include Premier Inn, Beefeather, Table Table, Taybarns and Costa Coffee.

(Source: Capital Market Day 2016 presentation)

The shares of Whitbread Plc are on the London Stock Exchange. The FTSE 100 and the FTSE 350 contains them.

Whitbread Plc increased it's revenue from 1.411 billion GBP to 3.106 billion GBP over the period spanning fiscal years 2006/2007 to 2016/2017. That's a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.21%.

Over the same 10-year period, the company's diluted earnings per share grew from 1.22 GBP to 2.31 GBP, which is a CAGR of 6.55%.

I think that it's really impressive from such a large company, so take a look at it's dividend.

The company increased it's dividend in the last 12 years, with a ten year CAGR 12.22%. The dividend yield is 2.59% with the yesterday's closing price. (37.02 GBP) The payout ratio is only 41.49%.

I think, that if I look at these numbers I see a good company, which worth further research.

Disclaimer: Long Kroger and TEVA

Recent Sell – Allianz AG

I bought a few shares of Allianz AG in 2016 after the Brexit referendum. That was a good timing, because of the panic at the stock market. I sold that shares a few days ago, because I think, that the valuation of the company's shares are really high.

When I bought the shares, the P/BV was 0.85 and the P/S was 0.52, but now I calculate P/BV 1.31 and P/S 0.75. If I look at the historical data, I can only see such high values in 2007. So this two ratios show me, that it is better to realize my profit.

But what I would expect from the company if I hold the shares? Allianz increased it's revenue from €92.183 billion to €110.500 billion over the period spanning fiscal years 2007 to 2016. That's a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 0.89%.

Over the same 10-year period, the company's diluted earnings per share decreased from €17.71 to €15.00, which is a CAGR of -1.12%.

 I think that it's not so impressive from a company, so take a look at it's dividend.

The company increased it's dividend in the last 4 years, with a ten year CAGR 7.18%. The dividend yield is 4.12% with my selling price. (€184.35) The payout ratio increased in the last 10 years.

These numbers show me, that the company's numbers are stagnating, and I won't expect great long-term returns from it. It was a good value play for me, but at today's prices I think that I will find muh better investment opportunities for my money in the next few months.