May '24 dividend portfolio update: consumer demand remains uncertain

Welcome back to my monthly newsletter, in which I review results and trading updates issued by the UK dividend stocks in my systematic model portfolio over the last month.

This month's update has more of a big-cap bias than usual – four of the five companies covered are FTSE 100 companies. The fifth helps to redress the balance slightly, as it's a quirky and somewhat illiquid small cap.

The general theme running across all of these results seems to be uncertain consumer demand, for a variety of reasons.

Personally, I think that all of the businesses I've covered this month are in reasonably good shape, fundamentally. In my view, most of them should benefit from an eventual upturn, although I think there could be one exception to this.

On a different note, May also marked the first anniversary of my paid service, which I launched last year. Paid subscribers get full access to these monthly reports and to my model portfolio (which replicates my personal portfolio).

I've been surprised by the support I've received for this new service during a tough period for many UK investors. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has signed up so far. Your financial support really helps to justify the continued time and effort that goes into this site.

In this month's report...

Here is a list of the companies covered in this month's model dividend portfolio update.

Please click on the links alongside each summary, or scroll down to read the full review for each company: