If you want good and consistent dividends invest in listed family businesses

Research often shows listed family businesses outperform their non-family businesses when it comes to their stock market performance, but a new fund shows how much better they also perform when it comes to paying their investors dividends.

Swiss-based Lapis Asset Management has recently created a fund comprising listed family businesses, which consistently pay dividends during at least the last 10 years. 

The Lapis Global Family Owned 50 Dividend Yield Index is composed of 50 worldwide equally weighted family-controlled companies. The 50 all have a market capitalization greater than $5 billion, and they have all uninterrupted and continuously increasing dividend payments over the last 10 years. 

The 50 family businesses selected have either direct or indirect family ownership of at least 20% of the company, either as economic or voting shares. 

Andreas Wueger, CEO of Lugano-based Lapis says family businesses are good at paying dividends. 

“Listed family businesses are often better at paying out dividends because many run stable, well-controlled businesses and have to keep family members happy and sometimes foundations as well,” says Wueger. 

Lapis has worked with the University of Applied Sciences in St Gallen to create the index, and in particular Professor Ernesto Turnes of the same university, who is also chairman of the asset manager.