UK dividends rose 1.3% in Q4 2025 to £14.3bn according to the Dividend Monitor report from global financial services company Computershare.
Regular dividends, which exclude one-off special payments, rose to £13.9bn in Q4, up 2.1% on a constant-currency basis.
The report noted how Q4 ended positively thanks to better than anticipated payouts in the energy, consumer basics and property sectors.
As well as a boost from companies promoted from the AIM to the main stock market, also a moderation in the impact of exchange rates.
However, when you zoom out for the full year, headline payouts were down 0.9% to £87.5bn.
The report reveals share buybacks reached a provisional £63.6bn for 2025, up from £30.8bn in 2019.
For 2026 the report projects total dividends of £88.8bn, up 1.5% on a headline basis.
Regular dividends of £85.9bn are anticipated to rise 2% on a constant-currency basis, with UK equities yielding 3.3%.
Banks, insurers and general financials increased regular dividends by £1.2bn across the three sectors.
Healthcare, utilities and basic consumer goods also made a notable positive contribution.
Computershare CEO Issuer Services Mark Cleland said: “Dividend payouts have still not regained pre-pandemic highs, and the slow dividend growth we’ve seen since 2020 largely continued last year.
“Rates did improve as 2025 progressed – and might well have been higher although many companies used significant sums of capital to undertake share buyback programmes.
“There are no clear indications that dividends will grow much faster in 2026, but a median dividend growth of 3.7% suggests a healthier market trend than the outlying figures suggest.”
In January 2025, Computershare revealed UK companies paid out £92.1bn in dividends in 2024, 2.3% higher on a headline basis than in 2023.