Global dividends take a hitIt is the worst since financial crisis

Payouts halted: Flags of the European Union fly outside the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The bank had ordered lenders and other financial institutions to stop paying dividends on account of the pandemic. — Bloomberg

LONDON: The coronavirus crisis will see the world’s biggest firms slash dividend payouts by between 17% and 23% this year or what could be as much US$400bil, a new report has shown, although sectors such as tech are fighting the trend.

Global dividend payments plunged US$108bil to US$382bil in the second quarter of the year, fund manager Janus Henderson has calculated.