UK dividends will not recover until 2025 - Link Group

Payouts fell by 44% in 2020

UK company dividends are unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels until 2025, Link Group has predicted after payouts almost halved in 2020.

Dividends from UK plc fell by 44% to £61.9bn for 2020, the lowest annual total since 2011, and the first time since 2015 that distributions have not grown year-on-year. Two-thirds (67%) of all UK listed firms either cancelled or cut their dividends in the last nine months of the year. On an underlying basis, excluding special payments, dividends slipped by 38.1% to £61.1bn. Just over a quarter of companies increased their dividends, while just under a tenth maintained theirs. UK inflation edges higher in December on rising transport costs In Link's worst-case scenario, dividends...