€441.22 in dividends in October. Five companies, five payments, and two I wouldn’t add to my portfolio today.

The numbers come from my portfolio and the spreadsheets in my investment model, so here’s the full breakdown—including the caveats.

• $DG (-0,38%) Vinci €157.30 🟢 Optimal

•$SAN (-0,66%) Santander €135.26 🟣 Watch

• $T (+0,25%) AT&T €86.05 🟢 Optimal

•$MCM (-0,15%) Miquel y Costas €32.50 🟠 Caution

• $MKC (-2,64%) McCormick €30.11 🟢 Optimal

🟢 Vinci: 4.66% yield and a 12.09x P/E ratio for the highway and airport operator. The downside: France’s plans to raise taxes on concessions and the expiration of French highway concessions between 2032 and 2036.

🟣 Banco Santander: 10.88x P/E ratio, 23.69% payout ratio, and a 6.87% total return to shareholders including share buybacks. The downside: it distributes only 2.44% in cash, so a large portion of the return comes from share buybacks rather than cash dividends. The 65% cut in 2021 remains on its track record.

🟢 AT&T: 5.36% yield, 11.38x P/E ratio, and 2.25x cash coverage. The downside: It cut the dividend by 35% in 2022, has frozen it until 2028, and carries a debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 3.66x.

🟠 Miquel y Costas: 8.35x P/E ratio and positive net cash, but 60% of its revenue comes from cigarette paper, and the dividend’s cash coverage is 0.65x. My system rates it at 25/100 for quality. I’ll collect my €32.50, but I won’t increase my position until I see results from the €130M plan.

🟢 McCormick: 4.10% yield, 8.50x P/E ratio, and 40 consecutive years of dividend increases. The downside: strikes and a current P/E ratio of 8.5x versus a forward P/E of 13.87x, which usually means that recent earnings included one-time items.

And what did I do? Exactly the opposite of what people usually do when everything is falling: I increased my holdings instead of waiting.

I added to three positions I already held:

🟢 Realty Income ($O (+1,14%) ) — 5.8% dividend yield and a 48.7% payout ratio based on AFFO. 674 consecutive monthly dividends without fail.

🟢 Gecina ($GFC (+1,16%) ) — 8.6% yield and trading at a 53% discount to its net asset value.

🟢 VICI Properties ($VICI (-0,78%) ) — 7.9% yield, 10.1x P/FFO, near 52-week lows.

And I’ve opened two new positions:

🟢 McCormick ($MKC (-2,64%) ) — 8.2x P/E ratio and 3.8% yield. Dividends have increased for 40 consecutive years.

🟢 NatWest ($NWG (-1,1%) ) — 8.8x P/E ratio, 14.8% ROE, and 5.1% yield.

All five are rated “OPTIMAL” by my system. That does NOT mean they’re perfect, so I’ll also tell you what concerns me about each one:

⚠️ VICI relies on Caesars and MGM for nearly 70% of its revenue.

⚠️ Gecina has negative free cash flow due to mandatory renovations of its buildings in France.

⚠️ Realty Income is highly sensitive to interest rates.

⚠️ McCormick is dealing with strikes and an active boycott against some of its brands.

⚠️ NatWest cut its dividend in 2021 and 2023: once due to regulatory requirements and once due to a one-time event that didn’t recur.

📊 Key Figures for H1 2026:

• USG H1: +4.8% — Q2 even +5.8%
• Q2 volume: +5.5% — CEO: "best volume quarter in over a decade"
• Power Brands: +6% USG (78% of revenue)
• Operating Margin: 20.3% (+10 basis points)
• €800 million productivity program fully implemented, completed ahead of schedule
• €1.5 billion share buyback completed
• Guidance raised to the full 4–6% range

The McCormick Deal — 3 Companies Emerge:

1️⃣ Unilever PLC — HPC Pure Play

Dove, Axe, Rexona, Persil, Domestos, Vaseline …

→ Higher margins, clearer focus

2️⃣ NEW “McCormick” + Flavor Powerhouse (€20 billion in revenue)

Knorr, Hellmann’s, Colman’s + McCormick portfolio

→ 65% of shares will go to Unilever shareholders

3️⃣ McCormick remains independent

Timeline: Closing in 12–15 months.

Unilever shareholders will automatically receive shares in the new flavor powerhouse—similar to the J&J/Kenvue deal back then or the current Comcast/NBCU deal

💡 The core thesis:

A focus on a HPC pure play should drive higher margins (traditional conglomerate discount reduction). Emerging markets are performing strongly (India, Latin America), and power brands are accelerating growth. The split provides an additional catalyst for unlocking value

$ULVR (-1,31%)
$MKC (-2,64%)

$ULVR (-1,31%) is now divesting itself of the $MICC (-2,62%) the food business.

The food division is being merged with McCormick $MKC (-2,64%) to form a ~€20 billion food giant.

Unilever thus develops into a pure Home & Personal Care player, with sales of €40 billion and an operating margin of ~20%.

With the planned demerger in mid-2027, Unilever shareholders will receive pro rata shares in the combined food company with McCormick. At the same time, Unilever is strategically focusing more clearly on the higher-growth and more attractive margin segments.

Unilever Press Release: https://www.unilever.com/news/press-and-media/press-releases/2026/unilever-announces-the-combination-of-unilever-foods-with-mccormick/

$ULVR (-1,31%)

$MKC (-2,64%)

The British consumer goods giant Unilever is considering a sale worth billions. This would also affect the traditional German brand Knorr.

The traditional German brand Knorr could soon change hands. The British consumer goods group Unilever is negotiating the sale of its food division to the US spice manufacturer McCormick & Company. Unilever announced on Friday that it had received a corresponding purchase offer from its smaller rival. The division also includes brands such as Hellmann's, Colman's and Marmite.

However, it remains to be seen whether an agreement will actually be reached. Both companies emphasized in separate announcements that there is no certainty that the talks will be concluded. They did not provide any financial details. Last year, the division accounted for around a quarter of Unilever's turnover and generated sales of more than 12.9 billion euros.

The talks are in line with Unilever CEO Fernando Fernandez's strategy of focusing the group more strongly on higher-margin areas such as beauty and personal care following the spin-off of the ice cream business. The portfolio there includes brands such as Axe, Rexona and Dove. The processed food business, on the other hand, is under pressure across the industry.

Pure share transaction planned

The companies confirmed the negotiations after the Wall Street Journal reported on them on Thursday evening. According to the report, it could be a pure share transaction that could take place in the coming weeks. The Financial Times had already reported in March that Unilever had previously unsuccessfully considered merging its food division with Kraft Heinz's sauces business.

Unilever shares rose around one percent on the stock exchange at the start of trading. However, Tineke Frikkee, portfolio manager at Unilever investor W1M, was skeptical. McCormick is significantly smaller than Unilever's food division, which generates around three times the profit of the US company. It is therefore unclear what added value a joint venture could create.

https://www.t-online.de/finanzen/aktuelles/wirtschaft/id_101179818/knorr-traditions-marke-steht-vor-moeglichem-verkauf-an-us-konzern.html