Growth in UK companies' dividends has slowed to a crawl but investors in global companies are enjoying a bumper year for dividends, according to two recent reports.
The reports claim investors who are looking for future income growth are being encouraged to widen their horizons via a growing number of global equity income funds.
Investors seeking income often focus on UK equity income funds, such as Neil Woodford's recently launched Woodford Equity Income fund, Threadneedle UK Equity Income or Artemis Income.
However, there are advantages in including some funds which invest overseas among your investments. David Thomson, chief investment officer at VWM Wealth in Glasgow, says: "What we like about overseas income funds is the diversification of risk they provide. UK equity income funds tend to focus on a limited number of companies operating in a limited number of sectors."
The dividend prospects of overseas companies also appear to be looking brighter than those of UK companies. The latest quarterly UK Dividend Monitor from Capita Asset Services showed that dividends in the second quarter grew by just 1.2per cent year-on-year to £25.8bn, weighed down by falling pay-outs from the biggest FTSE 100 firms. This was the smallest increase in a quarterly total since 2010.
Meanwhile, dividend pay-outs globally grew by 11.7 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter to a new record of $426.8bn, an increase of $44.6bn, according to the latest Global Dividend Index (HGDI) from Henderson Global Investors.
In the UK, just 15 companies accounted for 61 per cent of the dividends paid out in the second quarter and their pay-outs fell 0.8 per cent year-on-year. Ironically, it was those firms with the greatest global exposure which suffered most due to the strength of sterling against the dollar, impacting seven of the top 15 which declare their earnings in dollars.
As a result of the ongoing strengthening of the pound and slower earnings momentum, Capita has reduced its forecast for UK dividend growth to 3.5 per cent, the slowest growth since 2010.
By contrast global dividends grew by 18.4 per cent in the first half of this year which was the fastest in a six month period since 2011. This trend looks set to continue in the second half.
Henderson Global Investors points out that unlike 2011, when half of the growth came from the effects of the weaker dollar, the increases this year have largely come from companies raising dividends themselves with only a small favourable contribution from currency effects.
Dividends paid in the second quarter are especially important as they account for almost two fifths of the annual total, so the strong growth was very encouraging. Two of the best areas were Europe and Japan.
European firms paid $153.4bn in dividends, up 18.2 per cent, led by France and Switzerland, although Germany lagged behind its peers, up just 3.9 per cent. Japan also showed convincing growth, up 18.5 per cent to reach $25.2bn. The US is up 13.8 per cent year on year, with every sector bar mining experiencing growth, but emerging markets saw their pay-outs decline 14.6 per cent in US$ terms.
Currency movements affect dividend pay-outs but are a limited factor over time according to Henderson. Alex Crooke, Head of Global Equity Income at Henderson Global Investors says "Our investigation into how currency moves contribute to investor returns highlights the value of taking a global approach. Over time, such investors can broadly afford to ignore currency risk as currencies rise and fall against one another through the economic cycle. Investors who take a decision to invest internationally, but only focus narrowly on one region will find themselves more exposed."
Over the last five years the number of equity income funds has tripled and one of these newcomers Artemis Global Income is one of the best performers. However David Thomson prefers M&G Global Dividend and Newton Global Higher Income, which have been around longer, for their "expertise and firepower".
Investment trusts have long invested overseas for income and Fraser Robb, branch manager at stockbrokers Redmayne Bentley in Glasgow, points out: "Their history is reassuring and their ability to hold income reserves enables them to maintain and increase their dividends over the long term."
However, Stephen Peters, investment analyst at stockbrokers Charles Stanley, observes that only four of the investment trusts categorised as global equity income by the Association of Investment Companies are truly global. He adds "Three of the four are Scottish. Murray International is the biggest and best.
"Scottish American is very different. It is geared and does own a different type of portfolio than peers (property, funds, debt) but the dividend growth from it has been lacklustre. Securities Trust of Scotland is managed by Martin Currie." Securities Trust only adopted a global equity income mandate three years ago. Peters says "With the exception of Murray, we actually prefer open-ended funds in the sector. Our main preferences are the Veritas, Newton, M&G funds.
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