(News Bulletin 247) – The latest report from Janus Henderson once again reported a record dividend paid by listed companies in the third quarter, at $431.1 billion. For all of 2024, the asset manager forecasts a record $1.73 trillion.

Dividends paid by companies are still breaking records. In the third quarter, coupon payments by companies reached an all-time high of $431.1 billion, according to the latest report from asset manager Janus Henderson. An increase of 3.1% over one year.

“Very deep cuts by just five companies account for the apparent slowdown and mask much stronger growth across the market as a whole. These cuts include Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine and the UK’s Glencore which between them had a impact of 3.4 percentage points on the third quarter growth rate Without these reductions, global growth would have been more than twice as fast, at 6.5%, explains Janus Henderson.

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Help from Meta and Alphabet

Dividend payments were particularly high in the United States, where two tech behemoths, Meta and Alphabet, paid dividends for the first time over the period.

This “shows that these relatively new sectors are maturing and starting to return to shareholders some of the very large amounts of cash they have accumulated,” notes Jane Shoemake, portfolio manager at Janus Henderson.

More broadly, 96% of American companies increased or maintained their dividend payments from one year to the next, noted Janus Henderson. The underlying growth, that is to say restated for special dividends, exchange rate variations or even calendar effects, of coupons stood at 10% over the quarter in the United States.

“China, India and Singapore all paid record dividends during the quarter. Most of the growth in China was driven by Alibaba, which is distributing cash to its shareholders for the first time this year, while “In India, growth has been strong across a very wide range of companies,” notes Janus Henderson.

Growth destined to continue?

In France, underlying dividend growth stood at 8.5%, which “is consistent with the trend observed since the start of the year”, notes the asset manager. “Of the few companies that made payments, most showed double-digit increases, but a more modest increase from Totalenergies, which was by far the biggest payer, held back the cumulative amount,” he adds. .

For the whole of 2024, Janus Henderson expects a figure of 1,730 billion dollars, which is a little less than previously (1,740 billion dollars). This figure would reflect an increase of 4.2% in published data and 6.4% on an underlying basis. Above all, it would mark a new historic record.

“Fears that rising interest rates could weigh heavily on the global economy have so far proven to be unfounded,” explains Jane Shoemake.

“Corporate profitability in most parts of the world appears strong, implying that dividend growth can continue through 2025. In any case, dividends are showing steadier growth than earnings over time. time, as companies strive to manage payout ratios throughout the business cycle,” she concludes.

Remember that a dividend does not constitute a “gift” to shareholders but a fraction of the wealth that a company decides to pay directly to its shareholders. Its payment is in theory neutral for the shareholder, because the dividend is detached from the share price (the price of which mechanically falls by the same amount at that time). In other words, he recovers in one pocket what he loses in the other.