UK dividend cover among lowest as global cover falls to ten-year low

Worst quarterly performance in Q3 for three years for UK dividends

clock • 2 min read

Dividend cover is set to drop to 2.2x this year – its lowest level in ten years – with dividend cover in the UK the third lowest globally, according to the Henderson International Income Trust Global Dividend Cover report.

The Link Group UK Dividend Monitor also reported that while UK dividends rose 6.9% on a headline basis in the third quarter to £35.5bn, they contracted 0.2% on an underlying basis, making for the worst quarterly performance in three years. The HINT report found that global profits soared to a record £2.3trn in 2018, up 7.2% year on year, and are expected to grow again to £2.4trn this year. Dividends rose faster than profits, climbing 9.2% to a new record of just over £1trn last year, while this year dividends are set to rise again, increasing 8.7% to £1.1trn and outstripping profit gr...

To continue reading this article...

Join Investment Week for free

  • Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
  • Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
  • Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
  • Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
  • Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes

Join now

 

Already an Investment Week
member?

Login

More on Equities

Partner Insight: Playing Defence with Dividends

Partner Insight: Playing Defence with Dividends

Today’s equity markets are characterised by bouts of volatility, spurred by geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic uncertainties, mainly due to the start-stop nature of the US-initiated global trade war. This has investors seeking strategies that offer...

Reineke Davidsz and Najib Nakad @ VLK Investment Management
clock 10 July 2025 • 3 min read
Stock pickers urge caution over rapid return to US equities

Stock pickers urge caution over rapid return to US equities

Quilter and Fidelity

Linus Uhlig
clock 01 July 2025 • 1 min read
Deep Dive: US equities may not have peaked but do require greater selectivity

Deep Dive: US equities may not have peaked but do require greater selectivity

Amid equity rebalancing

Linus Uhlig
clock 13 June 2025 • 4 min read
Trustpilot
Loading page