Global dividend payouts hit $1.43 trillion last year
Global dividends rose to a record $1.43 trillion (£1.1 trillion) in 2019, research published today showed.
Dividends rose 3.5 per cent on a headline basis, according to asset manager Janus Henderson’s global dividend index.
Underlying growth, adjusting for the strong US dollar and unusually high special dividends, was 5.4 per cent, driven by North America, emerging markets and Japan.
New annual dividend records were set in the US, Canada, Japan, Russia and France.
However, dividend growth in 2019 was at its lowest since 2016, with Asia Pacific excluding Japan, the UK and Europe all lagging behind the global average.
The oil sector grew rapidly, with dividends up by a tenth, while in the telecoms sector dividends fell.
In the fourth quarter, dividends climbed 4.6 per cent to a record $291.8bn, equivalent to a 4.8 per cent underlying increase.
Over the last decade dividends have almost doubled, meaning that income investors in 2019 received $694bn more in dividends than they did 10 years before.
In the last 10 years companies have paid $11.4 trillion to their shareholders in total.
UK dividend headline growth was boosted by Rio Tinto and BHP’s special dividends, but underlying growth was 2.9 percent, behind the global average.
In 2020, Janus Henderson said it expects headline growth to be held back by lower special dividends, but said it still expects dividends to hit $1.48 trillion, 3.9 per cent higher than in 2019.
Ben Lofthouse, co-manager of global equity income at Janus Henderson, said: “With the exception of a few specific sectors, the pace of earnings growth slowed across the world in 2019 as the global economy lost some momentum. This has inevitably driven a reduction in the pace of dividend growth, after a particularly strong two years.
“For the year ahead, the market expects the global economy and company profits to continue to expand, meaning dividends can grow further. 2020 is on track to deliver the fifth consecutive year of record dividends.”