Global dividends hit new highs in 2022, study shows

PARIS, France – Companies around the world paid their shareholders $1.56 trillion in dividends last year, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The total is up 8.4 percent from 2021, the previous record year, after rebounding from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by asset manager Janus Henderson.

Oil and gas producers and financial firms accounted for half of that growth, according to its Global Dividend Index, which tracks the 1,200 biggest firms by market capitalisation.

As skyrocketing energy prices boosted profits, oil and gas producers increased their payouts by more than 66 percent in the form of ordinary or extraordinary dividends, the asset manager sai…

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