Battered banks, insurers and now supermarkets: Can income investors survive?

After decades of superb growth and dividend payouts, the supermarkets have encountered an epic adversary. Is it curtains for income investors? Or are there alternatives to battered banks, insurers and oil companies? Walker Crips' Chris Kitchenham explores.

Over the last six years, investors have been let down by the banks, which had formed the core of income portfolios, the oil sector, which was a dividend staple, and insurers, which have also seen dividend contraction. After that, the food retailers appeared to be a safer, duller home for investors seeking robust dividend streams. Not so. Morrisons went through a very public wringing of hands as it has struggled to compete in a value-driven market, and more recently Tesco has not only cut its dividend, but delivered the shocking news that it may have overstated its profits by £250mn. ...