Dividends brought forward to beat the 50pc tax band

Sheffield-based Henry Boot's managing director Jamie Boot is one of those to bring forward dividends.

The companies, which also include Thirsk-based Severfield-Rowen, paid out nearly 880m according to the latest quarterly UK Dividend Monitor from Capita Registrars.

The companies in question are mostly mid cap and smaller companies, but

include five FTSE 100 firms; Admiral Group, Hammerson, Inmarsat, Schroders and Tui Travel.

Capita noted that the move to bring dividends forward shows how directors are doing their best to maximise returns to shareholders.

The 40 companies brought forward dividend payments to the first five days of April, which still fell in the 2009/10 tax year.

Paul Taylor, head of dividends at Capita Registrars said: "Big companies were less likely to change the timing of their dividends, but some smaller stocks may have brought forward their payments to the 2009/10 tax year deliberately to beat the 50 per cent top rate."

He added that smaller companies were more likely to have owner-managers who had greater flexibility over how they provided returns to themselves and other shareholders.

The report said the FTSE 100 index performed poorly in terms of dividend payout compared to the FTSE 250. After adjusting for one-offs, FTSE 100 dividends slipped eight per cent during the first three months of 2010 while FTSE 250 companies paid out almost two per cent more than last year.

Capita said the discrepancy was due to the loss of momentum in the UK's biggest companies.

The five biggest payers between them returned 1bn less to shareholders between January and March compared to the previous year.

Very small increases at

Vodafone and AstraZeneca were overwhelmed by the 670m cut by HSBC and the joint 330m reduction by oil giants BP and Shell.

First quarter dividends fell by just 2.5 per cent, the slowest decline since the recession began to bite. In total, companies paid 13.6bn to their shareholders.

Twice as many companies increased payouts compared to those who cut, reversing the trend of the last year.

The weak performance of the big payers has led Capita Registrars to downgrade its full year 2010 forecast to 59.2bn for UK dividends, just 1.3 per cent higher than 2009.