According to a study published on Tuesday, the amount of dividends donated to shareholders reached a new record globally in the first quarter, thanks to the strength of the oil and mining sectors, as well as the post-Covid-19 rebound. Payments to investors rose 11% to $302.5 billion in the first three months of the year, a record for this “traditionally calmer” period, according to a report by asset manager Janus Henderson.
These figures prompt Janus Henderson to revise his 2022 forecast upwards, to 1.540 billion dollars, “an increase of 4.6%” compared to 2021, which was already a record year. Dividends had suffered a brake in 2020 and in the first quarter of 2021 under the impact of the pandemic.
The oil and mining industries stand out
The report shows that “payments have more than doubled” since 2009, when the study was created, which measures the evolution of dividends paid by the 1,200 largest market capitalizations. Despite a context of inflation and war in Ukraine, 94% of multinationals have increased their dividends or maintained them, details the study. In the United States, this ratio was the strongest at 99% once morest 90% a year earlier.
All regions recorded double-digit growth but “notable weakness was however seen in parts of Asia, such as Hong Kong, where lockdowns continue to weigh on the economy”. In Europe, Denmark’s dividends were much larger than usual due to an almost eightfold increase in the annual dividend of shipping group Moller-Maersk “which benefits from the disruption of global supply chains”. Its $7.2 billion first-quarter dividend is the largest since 2015 and “will likely be one of the 30 largest paid out this year.”
All sectors recorded increases but oil, where dividends rebounded by a third during the first quarter, and mining stood out. Mining companies, whose payouts to shareholders jumped 29.7%, “will continue to make a strong contribution to growth in 2022, potentially paying out more than $100 billion in dividends for the first time,” says Janus Henderson. . The Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP is “on track to become the world’s biggest dividend payer in 2022, for the second year in a row”, adds the asset manager.
