dividends

Dividend Yield vs Market Capitalisation

This article expresses the opinions and analysis of its author and does not necessarily reflect those of ShareSoc. The author accepts no liability for any errors in his analysis - readers should verify the analysis for themselves. There has recently been some discussion within ShareSoc and SIGnet about the construction of the SIGnet Investors' Index (SII). A point of debate was whether the SII was biased relative to more conventional and total return indexes because its small- and micro-cap weighting did not ...

FT, 21 Oct 2020, UK Dividends cuts deliver another blow to investors

The FT https://www.ft.com/content/0dc67672-7c6f-441a-a069-05f4828b0b2d reported on dividends' cuts including quotes from Cliff Weight of ShareSoc, 'Investor groups said they supported companies being “prudent”, but were worried about payouts. “Many private investors will be relying on dividends to fund their retirement,” said Cliff Weight, director of ShareSoc, a pressure group for small investors. He also pointed to what looked like an unsustainable situation before the pandemic, when dividends had been rising ever higher. “Everyone knew it was unlikely to continue.” '  I had a chat ...

Investing for Income – More Than Just Seeking a High Yield

Vanishing Dividends Every week brings news of a major company cutting or suspending its dividend: this week, it was BT. For investors who rely upon dividends for income, the search for a reliable, sustainable dividend becomes ever harder. There are no shortage of commentators who believe that most companies should be putting dividends on hold now. Certainly, the story of Easyjet paying out significant dividends on the same day as it requested a bail out from the government struck many as irresponsible. When ...

Dividends Slashed, Investing for Income, NMC Health and Finablr

Many companies are announcing cancelled, reduced or postponed dividends – two of the latest were Shell (RDSB) and Sainsburys (SBRY). This will hit investors hard who rely on dividends for retirement income. But should they be doing so? Terry Smith of Fundsmith had an article published in the Financial Times today under the headline “Investors: never let a crisis go to waste” in which he attacks income funds. In particular he questions whether the Investment Association should allow funds with “income” in ...

Dividends – ShareSoc and UKSA send joint letter to FRC, FCA and BEIS

Many of our members are very concerned at the spate of recent dividend suspensions. Many members feel that private investors are much more concerned with the non payment of dividends than the problems at AGMs, about which we have blogged at length. Many members are somewhat surprised that ShareSoc have not pronounced on dividends, so it is timely to correct this. Not only are many private investors heavily dependent on dividends, so are many charities and pension funds. These points are very ...