Global dividend payouts surged to a record in the second quarter, led by companies from Europe, which posted their biggest increase in at least five years, according to Henderson Global Investors.
Overall, payments increased 11.7 percent year on year in the quarter to $426.8 bn, the highest ever, according to the research. Even when special dividend payments are subtracted, payments rose an annual 10.2 percent in the second quarter, which usually accounts for almost 40 percent of annual dividend payments.
European companies, which normally pay the largest portions of their dividends in the second quarter, boosted payouts by 18.2 percent year on year to $153.4 bn in the quarter, led by increases from French and Swiss companies, Henderson Global says.
Most of the growth of Europe came from increases in the euro against the dollar, but the growth of $16.4 bn when factoring out currency swings is the biggest increase in Europe registered since Henderson Global began keeping track in 2009.
Payments from Japanese companies increased an annual 18.5 percent to $25.2 bn in the second quarter as the yen stabilized against the dollar in comparison with the rapid weakening in the second quarter of 2013.
‘2014 looks set to deliver the fastest growth in global dividends since 2011, only this time, most of that growth will come from increases in pay-outs from firms themselves, rather than from swings in currencies,’ Alex Crooke, head of global equity income at Henderson Global Investors, says in a press release. ‘In 2011, more than a third of the growth came from a falling US dollar. Developed markets are leading the charge, and we expect that to continue.’
US dividends grew 13.8 percent, with increases registered in every sector except mining, Henderson Global adds. Emerging markets posted an annual decrease of 14.6 percent in dividend payments when measured in dollars.
