UK dividend decline slows as sectors restart payments

Link Dividend Monitor for Q1

UK dividends fell at the slowest rate since the coronavirus pandemic began in the first quarter of 2021, with payouts falling by 26.7% year-on-year on an underlying basis to £12.7bn.

Total cuts reached £5.8bn for the quarter, roughly half of which was attributed to the oil sector, while headline dividends jumped 7.9% owing to the second-highest one-off specials on record at £6.1bn, the latest Link Group Dividend Monitor shows. Since the 48.2% collapse in UK dividends in the second quarter of 2020, when the pandemic began, each successive quarter has seen a slower decline. In January, Link forecast that UK company dividends are unlikely to return to pre-Covid levels until 2025, after payouts almost halved in 2020. The final tally shows a 41.6% drop in payouts ov...