Investor AB (INVE B, OMX Stockholm) will soon have 700,000 shareholders (now 680,387), making it Sweden’s most widely held stock.

It’s not super fun to read investment companies’ reports, I think. You get a CEO’s word that tells you how the situation is right now and thoughts about the future.

Then we get a net asset value that shows what the underlying parts are actually worth. For Investors, the net asset value can be a little extra interesting as a large part of their portfolio consists of an unlisted part that lacks a daily share price in the same way as listed companies.

What we already know is that Investor has made the following investments in the last 3 months.

Purchased

Company	Total purchase amount	Increase
Atlas Copco	653 million	8%
EricssonBuilding a portfolio	680 million	4%

Sold

Company	Total sales amount	Reduction
SEB	911 million	-1%

Investor’s dividend is in a class of its own

Since the financial crisis, Investor has had an outstanding dividend history. For a long period, the dividend was increased by SEK 0.25/share each year, but since the pandemic, it has been increased by SEK 0.4 each time. And not to forget the stock slit, at that time.

But Investor’s dividend history goes back further than that. The percentage increase from that dividend to today is 2959%. The result is an average annual growth rate of 7.23%. What is interesting here is that the dividend has grown mainly in the last 15 years. This is not usually the case. The increase in % is usually the largest at the beginning.

Even though it’s not an increase every year, Investor’s dividend is in a class of its own. The increases have protected you from inflation of 2% on average and more.

Normally, investing into an investment company is not for % of dividends, but want the total return that these instruments can give to the investors. A total return that will hopefully continue into the future.

What about dividend distribution?

Many investment companies want the dividend to “flow through” the company to the shareholders, so that they can share in the cash flow from the underlying holdings.

One argument for why an investment company wants to distribute the majority is to avoid double taxation effects (to some extent). An investment company that meets certain conditions can avoid corporate tax on dividends received – but is expected to distribute the majority to its owners in return.

An investment company does not necessarily have to distribute all the money immediately, but it can also be used for:

• New investments
• Reducing debt
• Having a buffer for future dividends , especially in times when underlying companies may be reducing their dividends

Investor’s goal is to generate a steadily increasing dividend to its shareholders.

I am happy to be part of a such a well management company and would like to continue to increase my holding, further.

*Above interpretation is from a Swedish invetment company perspective, may not hold true for invetment companies in other parts of the world.