Topic: How To Invest

The Successful Investor Hotline – Friday, November 16, 2018

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES LTD., $58.75, Toronto symbol L, operates 1,082 supermarkets across Canada. It also owns the Shoppers Drug Mart chain of 1,335 drugstores. On November 1, 2018, Loblaw transferred its stake in Choice Properties REIT (Toronto symbol CHP.UN) to its parent company George Weston Ltd. (Toronto symbol WN). (Note—Both Choice Properties and Weston are recommendations of our Canadian Wealth Advisor newsletter.) Under the terms of the deal, Loblaw shareholders received 0.135 of a Weston common share for each L share they held. They will not have to pay capital gains taxes until they sell their new Weston shares. As a result of the transfer, Weston now owns 65.4% of the REIT. As well, Loblaw shareholders hold 16.8% of Weston’s shares. Loblaw plans to maintain its current annual dividend rate of $1.18 a share (which yields 2.0%). In addition, Weston will raise its quarterly dividend by 5% to $0.515 a share. The new annual rate of $2.06 yields 2.1%. If you combine those two payments,…