Global dividends see record 2018 despite 'challenging' year for equities

Despite a more challenging fourth quarter which saw equity markets plummet, global dividends rose by almost 10% in headline terms during 2018, with the Janus Henderson Global Dividend Index ending the year at a new record of 187.3. This means the world's companies paid their shareholders a staggering $638bn more in 2018 than in 2009, when the index was launched. On a core growth basis, the 2018 figure was equivalent to an increase of 8.5%, which is the best performance seen since 2015, and above the long-term trend of 5%-7%. Almost nine in ten companies around the world raised their p...