Asian dividend payers to fill EU income gap

Investors searching for income have piled in to Europe's stash of dividend paying stocks over the past few years.

But some of these once-dependable names have slashed their payouts, leaving investors cautious as to the certainty of future income from shares. In the UK, insurance giant Aviva was the latest dividend cutter, announcing its payout would fall to 19p from 26p following trouble in its US business. Another insurer, RSA, cut its dividend by 33% in February, pointing to the “unsustainability” of the payout. More than a third of funds in the IMA UK Equity Income sector cut their dividend payout in the last year, while on the continent, German supermarket operator Metro lowered its dividend ...