Sunniva Kolostyak: Welcome to Morningstar, where we’re going to take a look at the top dividend payers in October.

Each month, we publish a list of the FTSE 100 companies with a wide economic moat that have the highest expected dividend yield. And while earnings season is well under way, we still see Big Tobacco on top, with British American Tobacco climbing one spot in October.

Together with GSK and BT, they make up the four stocks that are currently yielding above 6 percent.

Now, this month, 10 companies that fit the criteria to make it onto our list, reported their earnings. This includes names like HSBC, Lloyds, Schroders and WPP. Some of them did mention dividends, but none of them actually made any changes, and others, like Lloyds, went out of their way to signal that their financial situation is strong enough to handle further market pressure without cutting dividend.

Overall, UK dividends dropped 8.4% over the last quarter, according to Link Group, but, this was skewed by the delisting of mining company BHP – if excluded, dividends actually is up 1% year on year. Banks and financials were the biggest contributors to growth with a near 50% increase.

Earnings season is far from over though. Next month we can expect 16 other companies from our list to report, like BT, GSK, Rentokil, Rolls Royce, and Smith & Nephew next week alone. So keep an eye on Morningstar.co.uk for more updates.

For Morningstar, I’m Sunniva Kolostyak.

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