Dividend payments rise for tenth consecutive year

18 Nov 2019

Dividend payments made by the world's biggest companies to their shareholders have grown for the tenth year in a row, according to research from asset management company Janus Henderson.

During the third quarter of 2019, dividend payments grew by 2.8% to a record level of $355.3 billion, Janus Henderson's Global Dividend Index found.

Janus Henderson maintained its $1.43 trillion forecast for global dividends, which is unchanged for 2019. This represents a headline increase of 3.9%, which is equivalent to underlying growth of 5.4%.

However, the rate of dividend growth has slowed globally during the second and third quarters of the year. Underlying growth in 2018 totalled 8.5%. The underlying growth rate of UK dividends was 0.6%. In the US, dividends grew by 8%, although one in six US companies held payments flat.

Additionally, Janus Henderson has warned that investors are 'bracing for further headwinds in 2020' as global economic uncertainty looks set to continue.