GUD grief. After years of drought ravaging Australia's lawns - especially mine - GUD dispatches Victa lawnmowers to join other icons such as Vegemite, Aeroplane Jelly and Speedo in the hands of the Yanks.

Then it rains in bucketloads - luckily it still owns Oates buckets - on backyards across the nation. Talk about bad timing.

Still, the big wet will help its swimming pool, spa and pump business.

And, truth be told, Victa would sooner or later have felt the heat of cheaper Chinese imports.

If GUD sounds a bit of a ragbag of companies (did I mention it also produces gloves and cleaning cloths?) I couldn't agree more.

The funny thing is that CEO Ian Campbell reportedly thinks suggestions of mergers or takeovers with Australia's other few remaining manufacturers like Hills or GWA would mean "you would end up with a bit of a ragbag of small businesses".

Hmm, maybe it depends on how many there are. As it is GUD makes car parts, Sunbeam appliances, pool equipment, Monarch pools and Davey pumps, door, filing cabinet and safe locks and Oates cleaning products such as brooms, mops and scourers. It says it's on the prowl for two businesses to replace Victa, one of them in a new field for it, but then it could also be seen as a takeover target itself.

While its shares spent years going sideways, they spiked last year as the dollar rose and have since dropped back. Although GUD is rightly seen as a winner from a strong dollar, unfortunately that's only half the story.

It also pays the price of booming commodity prices (metals and plastics are major components) and rising labour costs from its Chinese plants. Analysts say it's a solid stock but without exciting growth potential.

You'd invest in GUD for the fully franked dividend yield of more than 7 per cent rather than the prospect of easy capital gains.

But then that probably makes it the perfect stock for this market, especially when there's no obvious downside.

It has a strong balance sheet and relatively low gearing.

With its non-ragbag of businesses, there's always something doing well at any given moment.

Certainly, if nothing else, GUD is well managed.

And, thanks to dams filling up again, farmers will need pumps for irrigation.

Advantages

* Cashed up

* Stronger dollar

* Well managed

* High dividend

Disadvantages

* Acquisition risk

* Sluggish growth

* Economic slowdown

* Labour costs

Verdict

Brokers aren't excited about GUD with one buy, one sell and seven hold recommendations. But it pays a great dividend - more than interest from a high-paying online bank account after tax.