Unite Group (LSE: UTG) is a share that I’d be content to hold for the next five years as the stream of students to British universities flows on and on.
The student accommodation provider continues to thrive because of solid ‘digs’ demand from both domestic and foreign students. This was shown in trading commentary last month in which chief financial officer Joe Lister declared that “bookings for the 2019/20 academic year have started strongly with 67% of rooms already sold, with 57% guaranteed by nominations agreements at rental levels that are supportive of delivering rental growth in line with our target of 3.0-3.5%.”
The implications of Brexit on broader immigration is uncertain. But I’m not expecting it to have a devastating effect on student numbers from abroad, at least not in the short- to-medium-term. I think the FTSE 250 firm should still deliver strong shareholder returns for a little while longer at least. And a 3.7% forward dividend yield makes it look mighty attractive, too.
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I own this!
So great is Britain’s need to build houses that I’d be happy to cling onto Ibstock (LSE: IBST) — a stock that I grabbed a slice of in the spring of 2017 — for at least another 10 years. I was tempted in by its big dividends and, as I type, the prospective yield stands at a titanic 6.1%.
Just how ineffective government housing policy has been to meet the accommodation of a growing population is no secret. Report after report reveals the scale of the problem and has led to the current Tory administration to pledge 300,000 new homes to be built per year by the middle of the next decade.
Ibstock’s bricks, then, look set to remain in strong demand. A mix of price improvements and rising volumes helped revenues rise 8% in 2018. And the opening of its Leicestershire mega-factory last July, a move that doubled production capacity, will put it in great shape to keep growing sales in the years ahead.
A Footsie favourite
GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) is another share I’d be happy to hold tightly onto for many years in the future. Indeed, given its position at the coalface of pharmaceutical innovation, it’s a share I can see delivering exceptional shareholder returns over the next 25 years, at least.
Medical care is one of things that we can simply not do without, obviously. Good health for us and our loved ones is the number-one priority, meaning that GlaxoSmithKline’s products keep flying off chemists’ shelves, irrespective of broader economic turmoil in certain regions. In fact, the FTSE 100 company’s global sales outlook is getting better and better as wealth levels in emerging markets rise.
The drugs giant saw constant-currency sales to developing regions rise 4% in 2018, it announced this week. I’m expecting its sales performance to pick up, too, following new chief executive Emma Walmsley’s vow to shake up GlaxoSmithKline’s strategy in exciting growth regions, such as Africa. I feel it’s a great blue-chip to pick up today, its appeal boosted by a giant forward dividend yield of 5.1%.
