Six FTSE 100 giants to pay £10 billion dividends in June
Shareholders of half a dozen blue-chip companies will start their summer with a windfall as dividend payments hit their accounts. City writer Graeme Evans runs through the list of income generators.
30th May 2024 14:23
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
Shareholders of HSBC (LSE:HSBA), Shell (LSE:SHEL) and BP (LSE:BP.) are in line for a summer income boost when six of the top 10 companies in the FTSE 100 index distribute £10 billion of dividends during June.
Mining giant Glencore (LSE:GLEN), LexisNexis business information group RELX (LSE:REL) and the consumer products firm Unilever (LSE:ULVR) are also making payments during a bumper month for blue-chip investors.
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The overall total of £12.6 billion from 15 companies, including big-yielding Legal & General Group (LSE:LGEN) and Imperial Brands (LSE:IMB), represents the largest haul for FTSE 100 investors since last September.
More than a third of this total is heading to the shareholders of HSBC after the banking heavyweight pledged to distribute proceeds from the sale of its Canada business.
A special dividend of 21 US cents in addition to a first quarter award of 10 US cents means shareholders can expect the equivalent of 24.34p a share on 21 June.
The £4.6 billion payment compares with June 2023’s 8.08p a share or £1.6 billion.
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Shell and BP shareholders are also set for a year-on-year increase in June income, although in both cases the payments are unchanged on the award of the previous quarter.
Yielding in the region of 4%, the Big Oil pair are due to make their distributions on 24 June and 28 June respectively. BP’s estimated sterling conversion of 5.77p a share for the first quarter is worth a total of £957 million, up from £933 million the year before.
Shell’s 34.4p a share is worth £2.2 billion, up from 23.23p or £1.6 billion in June 2023 after chief executive Wael Sawan increased September’s second-quarter distribution by 15%.
Underpinned by his focus on spending discipline, Sawan has pledged to distribute 30-40% of cash flow from operations through the cycle, up from 20-30% previously.
The exact sterling conversion for Shell’s UK shareholders will be announced on 10 June, with BP’s revealed a day later.
In contrast to HSBC and the oil companies, shareholders of Glencore will notice a big year-on-year drop in income on 5 June.
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The miner was one of last year’s biggest payers in the FTSE 100, including last summer’s 17.6p distribution worth £2.2 billion. This is now 5.19p a share or £631 million as Glencore works on a transformational deal to buy the steelmaking coal business of Canada’s Teck Resources.
The $6.9 billion acquisition has unlocked the potential for Glencore to eventually de-merge the combined coal assets, but to do so it will need to reduce leverage towards a revised $5 billion (£4 billion) net debt cap.
The biggest yield in next month’s dividend diary is the 8% of Legal & General, with the insurance group due to pay 14.63p a share worth £875 million on 6 June.
Its current policy is to grow the dividend by 5% a year, with attention now on the company’s capital markets event on 12 June for any change of approach by new boss Antonio Simoes.
The shares of Imperial Brands yield 7.7%, with the tobacco group due to make a payment of £860.5 million through the first of its two interim instalments of 22.45p on 28 June.
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June’s first FTSE 100 dividend will be from BAE Systems (LSE:BA.), which is scheduled on Monday to distribute 18.5p a share or £561 million.
Other blue-chips in the diary include Tesco (LSE:TSCO), with the supermarket’s policy of paying 50% of earnings set to mean investors get a final award of 8.25p a share on 28 June. This is worth £572 million and means an overall 11% increase for the 2023-24 financial year.
Company | Payment date | Current dividend yield (%) |
03-Jun | 2.2 | |
05-Jun | 2.1 | |
06-Jun | 8.0 | |
07-Jun | 2.7 | |
07-Jun | 3.5 | |
07-Jun | 1.4 | |
13-Jun | 1.7 | |
14-Jun | 1.0 | |
21-Jun | 7.1 | |
24-Jun | 3.7 | |
25-Jun | 4.7 | |
28-Jun | 4.6 | |
28-Jun | 3.9 | |
28-Jun | 7.7 | |
28-Jun | 1.8 |
Source: interactive investor, SharePad. Data and dividend conversions to sterling from dollars at exchange rates correct on 29 May 2024. *Includes special dividend.
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