Weaker pound meant British firms paid out record £16.6bn in dividends in last three months of 2016
A weaker pound meant British firms paid out a record £16.6bn in dividends in the last three months of 2016.
The latest UK Dividend Monitor from Capita Asset Services revealed dividend payments were 11.7 per cent higher than a year ago.
UK plc paid out a total of £84.7bn to shareholders over the year, some 6.6 per cent more than in 2015.
Winners and losers: Around 40 per cent of UK dividends are paid in dollars or euros
But the payouts were largely fuelled by the slide in sterling, which boosted profits for companies with overseas earnings. Around 40 per cent of UK dividends are paid in dollars or euros.
Capita said companies had struggled to grow profits with underlying growth for the year just 2.6 per cent. But the fall in the pound along with a raft of special dividends has ‘turned a rather leaden year golden’.
Dividends from mining companies more than halved to £3.3bn, their lowest level since 2009.
Meanwhile payouts from consumer goods companies climbed 5.1 per cent to £11.8bn – the only sector which has increased its dividends every year since 2007.
Financial firms paid out 7.8 per cent more than the previous year after specials from Prudential and Lloyds, with dividends totalling £20.3bn.
Oil and gas producers paid out 24 per cent more than a year ago at £16.6bn.
Capita said it expected dividends to rise around 3.3 per cent in 2017 to £87.5bn.
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