The spotlight is back on dividends: Last Monday was a very rich day on Piazza Affari, where about ten Blue-Chips paid off. Among the most observed Intesa Sanpaolowhich is classified as the first bank in the EU for remuneration to shareholders.
The search for high dividends is very important for investors, because the distributions they increase the returns on an investment. The question then arises as to how dividends are performing globally and which companies are distributing the highest profits to shareholders.
According to the last one Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index global dividends have reached a record in the 3rd quarter.
Record growth in the 3rd quarter
From Janus Henderson’s Global Dividend Index it emerges that global dividends are increased by 3.1% to 431.1 billion dollars in the third quarter, a record for the period, while the underlying increase held steady to 6.6% in the first half of 2024.
THE very consistent cuts on the part of only five companies they overshadowed much stronger growth than the rest of the market. In particular, the cuts of Evergreen Marine in Taiwan and Glencore in the United Kingdom had a negative impact of 3.4 percentage points, while the growth without these cuts it would have been more than double, equal to 6.5%, in line with the first half of the year and with the result expected for the whole year.
For the rest, the average increase declared by companies it was equal to 6% in the third quarter. Globally, nine out of ten companies (88%) increased dividends or kept them unchanged.
Finally, also the poor distribution of special dividendsby their nature volatile, had a negative impact on the performance of the period
Where more dividends are paid
In China, India and Singapore they were paid record dividends in the quarter. Most of the growth in China has been fueled by big e-commerce Alibabawhich paid dividends to shareholders for the first time this year, while India saw strong growth for several companies.
First year of dividends also for the big Internet companies – Half And Alphabet – which gave a significant boost to growth in the United States (+10%), where 96% of companies increased payments or kept them unchanged compared to the previous year.
Asia-Pacific earnings, excluding Japan, were sharply lower, driven by the weakness in Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Instead, Singapore bucked the trend thanks to strong dividends from its banks.
In Europethe underlying growth of 3.9% was a little slower compared to the first semester. According to Federico Pons, Country Head for Italy at Janus Henderson Investors, “seasonality means that in most countries the dividends paid in the third quarter are relatively few, so the impact of the third quarter on the annual total is relatively muted ”. Spain, France and the Netherlands they represented the half of the total paid. While, in Italy, Enel and Eni they recorded a constant growth to a single digit.
The trend by sector
From a sectoral point of view, the banks and companies average made the greatest contribution to growth, while the sectors mining and transportation had the greatest negative impact.
Forecasts for 2024 have been cut
Given the lower level of third quarter one-time special dividends, Janus Henderson has reduced his slightly forecast for 2024carrying them to $1.73 trillionwith a nominal increase of 4.2% compared to 2023 (compared to the previous estimate of 4.7% nominal growth). Expectations of underlying growth of 6.4% do not change.
Intesa Sanpaolo European champion
Intesa Sanpaolo is the first bank in the EU for shareholder remuneration, adding both the dividends and the increase in value of the shares. Last Monday’s distribution alone was worth 3 billion euros.
Intesa Sanpaolo it is the first bank in the Eurozone for total shareholder return – says the Institute led by Carlo Messina – or for growth in the value of the share and distribution of dividends. In the last 10 years he has scored a +205% and a growth on the stock market of 107%, with an increase in capitalization of 37 billion euros since January 2014.
