STOCK dividends hit a global record in the third quarter this year as oil firms flush with cash due to high crude prices rewarded investors, a report said today.

Shareholders received US$415.9 billion (RM1.88 trillion) in dividends during the July-September period, asset management fund Janus Henderson said.

The 7% increase in overall payments to shareholders was largely driven by payments made by oil firms, which jumped by 75% from the previous year to US$46.4 billion.

Janus Henderson said that without the increase by oil firms overall third quarter dividends would have remained stable from last year.

With the surge in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, oil and gas companies earned massive profits during the second quarter and many awarded exceptional dividends to investors during the third quarter.

As energy prices have fallen from peaks reached in the first half of the year, Janus Henderson does not expect the high level of exceptional dividends to continue.

For 2022 as a whole, Janus Henderson expects dividend payments to rise by 8.3% to US$1.56 trillion.

The asset manager warned the slowdown in global growth expected next year thanks to central banks hiking interest rates to bring down rampant inflation could impact corporate profits and dividend payments. – AFP, November 16, 2022.