The “end of abundance” announced by Emmanuel Macron does not yet affect large companies. They even set a new record for dividends paid in the second quarter, redistributing the colossal sum of $544.8 billion to their shareholders between April and June, according to the report by Janus Henderson. The 1,200 companies studied by the asset manager distributed on average 11% more money than during the same period last year.
This increase is taking place even though the appreciation of the greenback in recent months has mechanically lowered the value of the amounts paid by companies outside the United States, all dividends being converted into dollars in the study for to be able to make comparisons. Excluding currency effects and extraordinary payments, growth was 19.1%. It is even close to 30% in Europe and the United Kingdom.
BNP Paribas in the Top 10
Commodities, financial companies and car manufacturers drove this growth. In the top 10 of the most important redistributors, we find the Brazilian oil company Petrobras (1st), the Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto (3rd), the German group Mercedes-Benz (5th), but also the French bank BNP Paribas (6th) and the German insurer Allianz (8th). But all companies are affected by the trend: 94% of them have maintained or increased their payments.
With this momentum, Janus Henderson has again revised upwards the estimates for the year 2022, with dividends which they believe should reach 1.560 billion dollars, an increase of almost 6% compared to 2021. to find that, despite the enormous economic disruption caused by the pandemic, global dividends are now higher than the record level they reached before the pandemic,” the report highlights.
But the momentum could run out of steam in the coming months. “The rest of the year is unlikely to see such strong growth. Most of the “easy” gains have now been made, with the post-Covid-19 catch-up all but over,” said Janus Henderson Global Equity Team Leader Ben Lofthouse.