Global dividends hit record $568bn in Q2 2023
Half of the world’s dividends in Q2 were contributed by banks.
This marked a 4.9% increase on a headline basis, and a 6.3% rise year-on-year.
The index found 88% of companies around the world either increased or held dividends steady over the quarter, with Europe leading and exceeding dividends growth over any other region, at 10%.
Global dividends hit Q1 record of $326.7bn
Half of the world's dividends in Q2 were contributed by banks, the company found, as they drove a quarter of European dividend growth.
Vehicle manufacturers also boosted global dividend growth, accounting for one-seventh of the year-on-year increase, with German companies responsible for half this increase.
Banks also boosted UK growth, which suffered a sharp fall in mining payouts, with a headline total decline of 12.1%, as the country registered a dividend growth rate of 2.9%. HSBC made the biggest impact by restoring its quarterly dividends for the fist time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The growth rate in the US slowed for the sixth consecutive quarter, Janus Henderson noted, with $148bn paid in dividends, marking a 2.6% rise year-on-year on a headline basis. The biggest cuts to dividends came from Intel and Blackstone, due to falling sales and shrinking profits, respectively.
US healthcare companies, however, were the biggest drivers of growth in the second quarter, led by the strong profits posted by UnitedHealth Group and Eli Lilly. The second most significant drivers over the three-month period were US real estate companies.
However, global economic growth is still expected to slow, and Janus Henderson said it made no changes to its forecast for the full year. The fund manager expects payouts to rise by 5.2% on a headline basis to a record
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