Cincinnati-based P&G is a giant in the cleaning products business as well as personal health care and grooming. The odds are your bathroom, kitchen, and laundry are stocked with P&G products. The long list of brands includes Tide, Bounce, Pampers, Downy, Bounty, Charmin, Always, Tampax, Gillette, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Old Spice, Pantene, Cascade, Febreze, Oral-B, Mr. Clean, Crest, Scope, Vicks, Ivory, and Secret.

Digital Realty is a leader in the data centre world with a market capitalization of $48 billion and about 9% of the global share for data centres. Its clients are a Who’s Who of the technology world, including Microsoft, Facebook, IBM, Apple. Google, and LinkedIn.

CK Hutchison is the holding company for the diversified interests of Hong Kong’s wealthiest man, Li Ka Shing. It owns the world’s largest port network, with interests in six of the ten largest ports. It also owns A.S. Watson, the world’s largest health and beauty retailer, with 16,500 stores in 28 countries. It has a 75.7% stake in CK Infrastructure, Hong Kong’s largest listed infrastructure company with interests in energy, water, transportation, and waste management in seven countries. And it owns 3Telecom Group, which has 40 million mobile users in Europe and 115 million in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka.

Montreal-based Stella-Jones is North America’s leading producer of pressure-treated wood products. Approximately half of its 2024 revenues came from sales of poles to utilities and telecom companies, which increased 6%, to $1.7 billion. The remaining sales came from railway ties (26%), also up 6% to $890 million, residential lumber (18%), down 5% to $614 million, industrial products (4%), and logs and lumber (3%). Revenues for 2024 were up 5%, to $3.47 billion, or 3%, excluding acquisitions. Meanwhile net income was down slightly, at $319 million, although earnings per share were up 1%, to $5.66 from $5.62, due to share repurchases.

The ETF replicates the performance of the Solactive Equal Weight Canada Utilities Index net of expenses. It holds the stocks in the same proportion as they are reflected in the index. The fund is 2.6% higher year-to-date, matching the TSX, and 20% in the past 52 weeks.