UK Dividend Monitor Q4 2017
December 2017 / Link Group
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Investors celebrate record-breaking dividends in 2017, but will feel the hangover in 2018
- A new record: Dividends of £94.4bn were paid in 2017, up 10.5% year-on-year, boosted by large special dividends and rebounding payouts from miners.
- But growth slowed towards the end of the year: Q4 was the slowest quarter all year, up 1.1%.
- Different sectors, different stories: 13 sectors raised their dividends year-on-year, compared to six that saw them fall. Sectors that saw double-digit growth include mining, consumer goods and housebuilding.
- Big payers dominate: The top 15 payers accounted for three fifths of all UK dividends in 2017, with Shell, HSBC and BP taking the top three places for the third year in a row.
- Slower growth in 2018: We forecast underlying dividends to rise 3.1% in 2018, with slower growth caused by a fall in special dividends and absence of growth amongst the top 100 companies.
The Link Asset Services UK Dividend Monitor is a quarterly publication providing comprehensive data, trends and analysis on dividends paid out on the ordinary shares of companies listed on the UK Main Market.
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With grateful thanks to Exchange Data International for providing the raw data
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