EDITION 29, FEBRUARY 2021
Janus Henderson
Global Dividend Index
The first of its kind, quarterly, long-term study into global dividend trends, it analyses dividends paid by the 1,200 largest firms by market capitalisation. It is a measure of progress that global firms are making in paying their investors an income on their capital.
GLOBAL DIVIDENDS FELL 12.2% IN 2020 TO US$1.26 TRILLION AFTER A BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED Q4 SLOWED THE DECLINE
ONE COMPANY IN EIGHT CANCELLED ITS PAYOUT ALTOGETHER AND ONE IN FIVE MADE A CUT, BUT TWO THIRDS INCREASED OR HELD STEADY
JANUS HENDERSON’S BEST-CASE SCENARIO SEES 2021 DIVIDENDS UP 5% TO US$1.32 TRILLION, BUT THE WORST CASE SEES A SLIGHT DECLINE
Q4 2020
Key findings
Unless otherwise stated all data is sourced by Janus Henderson Investors as of 31 December 2020.
Glossary of terms
| Volatility | The rate and extent at which the price of a portfolio, security or index, moves up and down. If the price swings up and down with large movements, it has high volatility. If the price moves more slowly and to a lesser extent, it has lower volatility. It is used as a measure of the riskiness of an investment. |
| Headline dividends | The sum total of all dividends received. |
| Headline growth | Change in total gross dividends. |
| Special dividends | Typically, one-off payouts made by companies to shareholders that are declared to be separate from their regular dividend cycle. |
| Underlying dividend growth | Headline dividend growth adjusted for special dividends, change in currency, timing effects and index changes. |