Buenos Aires — Global dividend payouts hit a record high high of $568.1 billion between April and June, or 4.9% more than during the year-ago period. However, emerging markets bucked the global trend, with a 0.8% decline in dividend payouts including extraordinary and secondary payments.
Reduced distribution from Latin American oil producers was one of the main factors that weighed down on developing economies’ final figures. In fact, Petrobras, which had been the world’s leading dividend-paying company in 2022, registered a sharp reduction in the second quarter.
The data was compiled and published by the British asset manager Janus Henderson.
When taking into account extraordinary and secondary payouts, Brazil’s dividend payments dropped 52.7% year-over-year, while Mexico’s rose by 4%. Colombian companies, for their part, axed dividends by 36.5%, while Chile’s hiked them up by 64.6%.
Mixed Dividend Figures in Latin America
According to Janus Henderson, the April-June period was seasonally quiet for Brazilian dividends, with the country’s underlying decrease of 53%, primarily reflecting Petrobras’ reduction.
Meanwhile, Ecopetrol was the sole Colombian payer in the second quarter, and the reduction in ordinary and extraordinary dividends from this company was the main factor behind the 36% and 63% declines in the country’s underlying and overall payouts, respectively.
“Meanwhile, in Chile, Empresas Copec was the only payer in the second quarter and increased its distributions despite a slump in profits,” noted Janus Henderson.
In Mexico, there was a 4% underlying growth in dividend payouts, reflecting a 33% increase in Banorte’s dividend and a slight increase from the beverage company Femsa, which together offset the cut made by Grupo México.
Janus Henderson noted that rising interest rates are boosting the profits of emerging market banks, resulting in higher dividends for shareholders. Overall, banks increased their distributions by 50% compared to the previous year, but this positive effect was offset by the significant decline in dividends from the oil sector, mainly in Brazil and Colombia, the asset manager added.
Saudi Arabian bank Al Rajhi contributed the most to dividend growth in emerging markets, having canceled its dividend payout in 2021 to preserve capital, while Petrobras cut its distributions due to falling energy prices. Petrobras, the company that distributed the most dividends globally in 2022, made the largest cut in distributions worldwide in the second quarter.
