Dividends paid out by global companies to shareholders have reached a new second-quarter record, according to a new report by investment firm Janus Henderson.
Janus Henderson said in the research that slowing dividend growth was in line with expectations for 2019, and reiterated its forecast for the year of a total $1.43 trillion, an increase of 4.2% on a headline basis, or 5.5% underlying.
The report highlighted that exchange rates had a significant impact in the second quarter, as the dollar strengthened against most global currencies. "This meant the dollar value of dividends paid in most parts of the world was translated at less favorable exchange rates," it added. "The biggest impact was in Europe, while Japan bucked the trend as the yen was stronger year-on-year against the greenback."
Overall, it was the slowest dividend growth in two years, up just 1.1% compared to a year ago. However, when excluding currency fluctuations it came in at 4.6%.Europe lagged the rest of the world, down 5.3% from the second quarter of 2018, but France emerged as Europe's largest payer, with underlying growth of 5.1% and its total payments reaching $51.0 billion. German dividends rose in line with the European average, but saw a number of companies cutting payouts.
Ben Lofthouse, head of global equity income at Janus Henderson, told CNBC Tuesday that there were also "company-specific" reasons for this.
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