UK companies appeared unphased ahead of the EU referendum as a series of special dividends propelled total payouts to a record level in the second quarter of this year.
Special dividend payments surged during Q2, bringing headline payouts to £28.8bn, a 7.6 per cent increase year-on-year and beating the previous quarterly record reached in the first three months of 2014.
A total of 22 companies paid a special dividend in Q2, by far the largest on record for any quarter, with the vast majority coming from the FTSE 100 index. Intercontinental Hotels and GlaxoSmithKline were the largest payers.
However, headline dividends fell by 2.7 per cent year-on-year to £25.2bn, despite a £960m boost from the weaker pound on payouts declared in dollars and euros.
Capita upgraded its 2016 forecast for underlying dividends by 0.5 per cent to £76.9bn due to the exchange rate boost, with the headline forecast increasing by 3.8 per cent to £82.5bn.
The report stated: “For as long as the pound stays low (and there is little to support it at present), those gains will persist in future years too.”
