Dividends will surprise on upside once again

ON UK INCOME

Lazard's Alan Clifford discusses why he is optimistic about the outlook for dividend paying companies.

Dividend growth will be an increasingly important feature of the UK stock market in the near term, as equity markets around the world become more volatile and interest rates continue to show little sign of rising. Payments in the UK are yet to reach the levels they were at before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and we believe we are unlikely to see such levels until 2012 at the earliest, possibly 2013, leaving considerable scope for growth. The political and economic uncertainty affecting capital returns has made dividends an even more attractive source of returns. This could change i...