Record dividends expected this year

Dividends from the UK’s top quoted companies hit a record £67.8bn in 2011, fuelled by BP’s resumption of payouts halted by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster the previous year.

Total gross dividends rose 19.4 per cent for the full year, and soared 26 per cent in the fourth quarter alone compared to the same period in 2010. The year also saw an exceptionally large value of special dividends.

“Record dividends are providing a real bright spot for investors against a very gloomy backdrop of crisis in the eurozone and a stalling economic recovery in the UK,” said Capita Registrars, which analysed figures from Exchange Data International.

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“We are optimistic dividends will make further progress in 2012, unless the eurozone sinks deeper towards collapse and leads companies to retrench at home.”

Royal Dutch Shell, Vodafone, HSBC, GlaxoSmithKline and BP were the biggest distributors last year.

Capita believes that Vodafone will make the single biggest payout this year with a special £2bn payout.

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