Global dividends set a new Q1 record this year, with all regions experiencing double digit growth, the latest Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index revealed. The quarterly study found global dividends surged by 11% in the first four months of the year, hitting $302.5bn. Underlying growth “was even stronger”, according to analysts, at 16.1%. Since the study began in 2009 pay-outs have more than doubled, the data showed. The basis for this strong growth was twofold, according to the study. First, the resumption of normal dividend repayments post-Covid when many companies were forced to cancel or suspend dividend pay-outs to shore up balance sheets during lockdown. Globally, 81% of companies that issued pay-outs in the first quarter increased their dividends year on year and another 13% held them steady. This means that Q1 2021 provided a “relatively low base for comparison purposes” year-on-year. But this does not diminish the “robust post-Covid economic rebound” that occurred globally in 2021 and at the start of this year, Janus Henderson analysts said. The standout sectors from the first quarter were US, Canada and Denmark, which all broke all-time quarterly records. According to the study, 99% of US companies either raised pay-outs or held them steady. Elsewhere, oil and mining also had a strong quarter, with the former up 29.7% on a headline basis, although “there was increasing divergence between companies”, analysts noted. Oil companies such as BP and Shell were some of the headline names forced to cancel dividends in the 2020 sell-off but have experienced an incredibly strong year so far on the back of war in Ukraine driving oil and energy prices to generational highs. As the study noted, both oil and metal prices have been propelled higher following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, helping to sustain dividend growth in these sectors for the time being. It is these interconnected geopolitical issues and the economic headwinds of rising inflation and a cost-of-living crisis which have halted Janus Henderson revising its outlook for the year.

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