The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price delivered a solid 6.70% gain last month.
Shares in the diversified conglomerate hit an all-time record high of $59.60 just before the finish line on 30 June.
Let's take a look at what drove the Wesfarmers share price to yet another record high.
Strategy briefing day
Wesfarmers' strategy briefing day presentation on 23 June was its first price-sensitive announcement since the February reporting season.
The presentation brought to our attention a number of initiatives the company believes will provide a meaningful return to its shareholders.
More broadly speaking, this included a focus on developing a market-leading data and digital ecosystem, in order to improve a customer's shopping experience and make shopping across its businesses more convenient.
The company said it expects to make an incremental investment of ~$100 million across group and divisional initiatives to develop this ecosystem.
Unfortunately, Wesfarmers flagged that its retail business is cycling through tough comparables against 2020 figures, resulting in "significant volatility in monthly sales growth results".
Wesfarmers said that customer demand has remained strong, but due to increased activity in the previous year, year-on-year growth has slowed and in some cases turned negative for some businesses.
The Wesfarmers share price edged 1.02% lower to $58.12 on the day of the announcement.
Are lockdowns good for the Wesfarmers share price?
Australian COVID-19 cases made a resurgence in late-June, headlined by a growing cluster in New South Wales.
The resulting new lockdown measures and border travel restrictions saw high profile ASX shares often considered as 'COVID-19' winners make a comeback.
ASX e-commerce shares were the main beneficiaries with Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN), Redbubble Ltd (ASX: RBL) and Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) logging strong gains on Monday 28 June.
While some COVID-19 winners have given back Monday's gains, the Wesfarmers share price has held up relatively well.
Between 28 to 30 June, Wesfarmers shares added 2.4% to close at $59.10.
By the market's close on the first day of the new financial year, the Wesfarmers share price was trading 0.8% lower for the day at $58.63.
The weakness today was broadly in line with the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which slipped 0.65% to 7,265.60.
Don't forget about Wesfarmers' dividends
Wesfarmers shares are expected to continue growing their dividends according to Macquarie. The broker forecasts fully franked dividends of $1.74 per share in FY21 and $1.76 per share in FY22.
With the Wesfarmers share price currently fetching $58.63, this implies a yield of 3.00% in FY22.
