In the first quarter, $275.8 billion in dividends were paid globally, which is only 2.9 % down over the year-ago period. This is the start of a return to normal, after many companies reduced or cancelled dividends last year due to the effects of the pandemic. Only one in five companies (18%) cut or reduced their dividends, well below the 34% that did so in 2020. Overall, businesses have reduced their payouts by nearly $250 billion last year.

Janus Henderson now expects dividends of $1.36 trillion for the year 2021, up 8.4% year-on-year. However, payouts will still be well below the record high of 2019, when they reached 1,429 billion. 

North America has mostly resisted dividend cuts. At $139.3 billion, dividends were 8.1% lower overall than in Q1  than in Q1 2020, although this decline was almost entirely due to the non-renewal of last year's particularly high extraordinary dividends. In underlying terms, the 0.3% decline in North American dividends was well below the the global average of -1.7%. In the US, the underlying decline was -0.4% in the first quarter. One company out of ten cut its dividend, including Wells Fargo, the only major US bank to have done this.

North America vs The World. Source: Janus Handerson

UK dividends continued to be affected by cuts made by oil companies, and some dividends were permanently reset at a lower level, although there are signs of recovery there too.

The surge in commodity prices commodity prices have driven up mining dividends, and several banks have started paying dividends again. Dividends in the consumer discretionary sector remain under pressure.