AAVYAvery Dennison Corporation

Avery Dennison makes self-adhesive labels and radio-frequency tags — what is stuck onto packaging and clothing.

A label costs a fraction of a percent of a product's price, but without it the product does not reach the shelf: it carries the ingredients, the expiry date and the barcode. Demand follows the volume of consumer goods produced and is therefore steady, while price is set by adhesive reliability and print quality rather than by tender.

The growing line is radio-frequency tags: they allow an entire shop's stock to be counted in minutes and every item to be located in a warehouse. Large clothing chains have adopted them; food and logistics follow. Risks: paper and polymer prices, consumer demand and currency rates. The dividend has been raised for many consecutive years.