Fund managers spot recovery signs for income-paying UK equities

Estimates suggest the Covid-19 pandemic wiped around 40% off the value of dividend payments to shareholders across the UK stockmarket, as companies slashed, cancelled or deferred distributions. The moves were widely supported by asset managers, as some firms looked to strengthen their balance sheets and others were forced by regulators to preserve capital. With a world-leading market yield a key reason to own UK stocks, the lowering of this has compounded underperformance of the market not seen since 2016's Brexit referendum. A halving of oil major BP's dividend, the first time it ...