Most
of
the
names
on
our
monthly
FTSE
100
dividend
stock
screen
have
reported
in
January
and
February
so
there
have
been
plenty
of
dividend
announcements
to
keep
track
of.
These
include
news
from
British
American
Tobacco
(BATS),
Lloyds
Banking
Group
(LLOY),
WPP
(WPP),
Unilever
(ULVR),
and
Reckitt
Benckiser
(RKT),
which
pay
out
billions
in
dividends
to
UK
investors
every
year.
Earnings
season
was
eventful,
as
always,
particularly
as
some
full
year
results
were
in
the
mix.
This
earnings
season
is
a
particularly
useful
one
for
the
sake
of
comparison
and
nailing
down
dividend
growth
because
full-year
figures
are
often
available.
Dividends
were
front
and
centre
to
a
number
of
company
results,
such
as
Shell,
which
also
announced
another
round
of
share
buybacks.
In
summary,
Lloyds,
Schoders,
GSK
and
Reckitt
raised
their
dividends,
while
WPP,
GSK
and
Unilever
held
theirs.
Consumer
goods
giant
Reckitt
Benckiser
was
the
most
recent
to
report.
Its
full
year
dividend
was
192.5p
up
from
183.3p
the
year
before.
The
annual
dividend
was
weighted
for
towards
the
second
half,
with
the
final
proposed
dividend
of
115.9p
per
share,
up
from
110.3p
in
2022.
Reckitt
was
among
the
companies
on
the
list
to
have
increased
their
dividends
on
the
year
before.
But
investors
focused
on
what
the
CEO
called
“disappointing”
Q4
sales,
sending
shares
down
on
the
day.
St
James’s
Place
(STJ)
also
had
a
bad
day
on
the
markets
when
it
released
full-year
results,
with
shares
off
30%.
The
annual
loss
was
one
focus
for
investors,
but
another
was
a
substantial
cut
in
the
dividend;
the
final
dividend
was
declared
for
8p,
reduced
from
37.19p,
while
the
full-year
making
the
full-year
dividend
23.83p,
from
52.78p
the
year
before.
Unilever
held
its
dividend
(again)
in
euro
terms
(€0.4268),
a
figure
that
investors
will
be
familiar
with
as
it’s
been
the
same
since
2020.
While
Schroders
reported
an
increase
in
the
total
dividend,
the
change
was
marginal,
from
21.4p
in
2022
to
21.5p
in
2023.
It’s
been
a
while
since
GSK’s
great
reset
in
dividend
terms,
with
investors
getting
used
to
not
receiving
the
usual
80p
per
share
every
year.
The
Q4
dividend
was
increased
to
16p
after
a
run
of
14p
payouts
in
Q1,
Q2,
and
Q3.
IN
Q4
2022
the
payout
was
13.75p,
so
the
16p
for
the
most
recent
quarter
is
a
year
on
year
increase.
Shareholders
are
entitled
to
ask:
is
the
2023
annual
payout
(58p)
higher
than
that
of
2022
(57.75p)?
The
answer
is
yes,
but
just.
Some
good
news
is
coming
though:
the
2024
financial
year
payout
is
expected
to
be
60p
per
share.
One
more
name
on
our
list
is
yet
to
report,
and
that’s
insurance
company
Beazley
(BEZ),
which
releases
full
year
results
on
March
7.
Away
from
our
select
screen
of
names,
what
about
the
overall
picture
for
UK
dividend
investors?
Computershare
compiles
the
numbers
and
it
has
revealed
that
UK
dividends
totalled
£88.5
billion
in
2023
–
up
5.4%
year
on
year
–
and
that
was
£90.5
billion
including
specials.
This
including
specials
number
was
up
3.7%
on
2022,
reflecting
lower
one-off
payouts.
Mining
payouts
were
a
drag
on
growth,
while
oil,
utility
and
banks
were
drivers
of
growth.
What
about
2024?
Headline
growth
(including
specials)
is
forecast
to
be
3.7%,
reaching
a
total
of
£93.9
billion.
But
growth
excluding
specials
is
expected
to
be
more
modest
at
2%,
taking
total
dividend
payments
to
just
under
£90
billion.
This
wouldn’t
be
a
“vintage
year”
for
dividends,
certainly
compared
with
the
£100
billion
before
the
Covid
crash
in
payouts
in
2020,
as
detailed
in
my
article
How
Bad
Was
2020
for
Dividend
Investors?
xxx
As
an
aside:
when
is
a
dividend
increase
not
a
dividend
increase?
Barclays
(BARC)
caught
my
eye
with
its
recent
results;
while
the
dividend
is
the
same
in
cash
terms,
due
to
an
accountancy
quirk
this
can
be
reported
as
an
increase.
The
bank
is
planning
to
return
at
least
£10
billion
to
shareholders
between
2024
and
2026
with
a
mixture
of
dividends
and
buybacks,
“with
a
continued
preference
for
buybacks”.
The
plan
is
to
keep
the
total
dividend
stable
at
the
2023
level
“in
absolute
terms”.
How
is
dividend
per
share
growth
being
driven?
Through
a
reduction
in
the
number
of
shares
through
buybacks.
As
an
income
investor
in
an
inflationary
era,
you
would
prefer
an
increase
in
the
cash
level
of
the
dividend.
Many
companies
are
shying
away
from
pure
dividend
growth
and
taking
the
two-pronged
approach
of
buybacks
and
dividends,
one
used
by
stocks
such
as
Unilever.
Investors
still
get
their
regular
payouts
and
an
artificial
uplift
in
the
share
price,
so
they’re
reasonably
happy
to
accept
that.
In
an
ideal
world
they
would
get
share
price
gains
AND
dividend
growth,
but
the
UK
market
at
the
moment
is
rarely
offering
this
combination.
On
our
screen
Globally,
buybacks
are
all
the
rage
so
at
least
the
UK
exception.
We’ll
look
at
buybacks
and
what
they
mean
for
stocks
and
funds
soon.
Further
Reading
on
UK
Stock
Dividends
Our
Dividend
Screen
Methodology
To
make
it
on
to
our
monthly
list,
FTSE
100
companies
need now to
have
a
narrow
or
wide
economic
moat
and
pay
a
dividend
and
have
a
forward
yield
of
3%
or
more.
This
is
now
below
the
Bank
of
England
base
rate,
which
stands
at
5.25%.
We
changed
our
methodology
last
in
2022,
introducing
a
hurdle
of
3%,
but
there’s
an
argument
for
raising
this
to
4%
–
that
would
leave
eight
companies
from
a
potential
cohort
of
36
narrow
or
wide
economic
moat
companies.
A
note
on
gain/loss:
these
are
total
return
figures
so
include
dividends.
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