The latest edition of the Computershare Dividend Monitor landed with a metaphorical thud in Asset Allocator’s inbox this week, and it contained mixed news for those that have income as a focus.
Overall, UK dividends grew by 11 per cent, in nominal terms, to £36.7bn, but the bulk of the heavy lifting was done by special dividends, with HSBC’s recent dispersals particularly boosting the total.
Exclude the effects of special dividends though, and the growth was a more humdrum 1 per cent.
And the culprit this quarter was the mining sector, with old habits dying hard as commodity prices fell at just about the time some of the biggest beasts in the sector began to flash some ankle at each other as a prelude to merger or acquisition,and dividends were cut by a third compared with last year.
The most-owned UK equity income funds among the allocators we cover, Evenlode Income, which appears in 11 portfolios, but has just 1.2 per cent in mining – though it is a slightly idiosyncratic UK equity income fund. The next most-owned is Man Group’s Income fund which has an extensive exposure to mining at 34 per cent, with Rio Tinto a top 10 holding.
The sector which is leading the charge is banks, an area that is negligibly represented within Man Group’s fund, while 10 per cent of the Evenlode fund is in financials.
In performance terms, the Evenlode fund has struggled over the past year, being resolutely bottom quartile over the past year, and third quartile on a three year basis.
It’s not much of a surprise this fund has struggled lately: being acutely growth-oriented is a tough place to be in a world of rising rates.
In contrast, the Man GLG Income has enjoyed a good run, being top quartile over one and three years, as befits a value fund.
