The stars of Asian income

ASIA

Annabelle Williams looks at the Asian stocks offering the greatest potential for dividend growth as yield in Western markets becomes increasingly scarce.

Income investors in Europe have been hit by a number of recent dividend cuts following a surge of interest in high income paying stocks. UK dividend payouts were down nearly 25% year-on- year, amounting to £14.1bn during the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, according to Capita Registrars’ UK Dividend Monitor report. “The first quarter dividend figures confirm our belief that dividend growth will be hard to achieve at a headline level in 2013,” the report said. “There were some big one off factors in 2012 that set the bar very high, but we also detect a slowdo...