UK Dividend Monitor

UK companies distributed dividends of £24.6bn in Q3 2025, as the one-off decline continues and attention turns to share buybacks

UK companies paid £24.6bn dividends during Q3 2025, down 1.4% year on year. This was driven by a decline in one-offs, which reached their lowest level since Q3 2020 – owing mainly to a handful of the top 100 companies cutting payouts. The diversion of cash into share buyback schemes is also limiting growth in dividends.​

Key highlights:​

• Total dividends: £24.6bn dividends were paid in Q3 2025, a reduction of 1.4%. This was driven by one-off dividends dropping to their lowest since Q3 2020.​
• Underlying growth: Underlying growth (once one-offs are removed), declined by 0.6% at constant FX. While this is a decrease, it’s slightly stronger than the -0.9% that was initially projected.​
• Median growth: Median growth across the market was 3% with 17 out of 21 sectors all seeing healthy dividend payouts. 80% of companies maintained or increased dividends this quarter and the decline was centered around influential top 100 companies.​
• Sectors to watch: The mid-caps outperformed the top 100 , which is where most of the decline was focused. NatWest, with Lloyds not far behind, increased payouts by more than a half, while Rolls-Royce boosted dividend payouts by 1.5 percentage points. ​
• Declining sectors: Most of the decline came from a handful of top 100 companies cutting dividends. Payouts from three mining companies, Rio Tinto, Glencore and Anglo American reduced £711m (or 2.9% off total Q3 growth), while Vodafone halved their dividends and Burberry suspended payouts.​
• Underlying forecast: Underlying growth is now projected to be pegged at 2.5% for 2025, with headline payouts falling to £87.2bn.​