Sufficient dividend opportunities out there to maintain income

ON UK INCOME

Despite nationalised banks and BP blowing a hole in the market yield, many companies are delivering double digit dividend growth, writes Francis Brooke of Trojan

At last the UK equity market is re-entering a period of dividend growth. Until the Macondo well explosion in the Gulf of Mexico caused the suspension of the BP dividend, 2010 was shaping up to provide a return to growth after the horrific 40% peak to trough fall but it has ended the year flat-lining. The current trailing yield on the FTSE All Share is down to 3.1% – a level more often a sell signal than a buy signal in the past. As is often the case the headline figures are masking a more complex underlying picture. A large and concentrated part of the market, including the nationalis...