DIY Investor Magazine
/
September 2016
26
Ben Lofthouse,
portfolio manager,
Henderson Global Equity Income Team
:
JAPAN: LAND OF THE
RISING DIVIDEND?
Japan is home to many profitable companies that
have significant levels of cash on their balance sheets
but which have been relatively poor historically at
distributing profits to shareholders. With this in mind,
Ben Lofthouse, portfolio manager in the Global Equity
Income Team, investigates the potential for dividend
growth from the world’s third largest economy
DIVIDEND GROWTH
Dividends from Japanese companies grew rapidly
in 2015 in local currency terms and the recent
strengthening of the Japanese yen – which additionally
boosts returns for overseas holders of Japanese assets
– has provided a further fillip. Dividend growth in the
first quarter of 2016 compared with the same period
a year earlier was 21.1% in headline terms1 (10.5%
underlying), according to the latest data available from
the quarterly Henderson Global Dividend Index (HGDI).
The HGDI is a long-term study into global dividend
trends from the world’s largest 1,200 firms by market
capitalisation, based in US dollars.
1 Headline dividends reflect the total sum of payouts
received within the HGDI in US dollar terms. Underlying
dividends are adjusted for special dividends, changes
in currencies, timing effects and index changes.
HENDERSON GLOBAL DIVIDEND INDEX – JAPAN
& GLOBAL DIVIDEND GROWTH
:
Source: Henderson Global Investors as at 31 March 2016. Index level
measures the progress firms are making in paying dividends, using 2009 as
a base year with a value of 100, calculated in US dollars. Figures relate to
headline dividends.
QUESTIONING THE MANAGER – BEN LOFTHOUSE, HENDERSON
INTERNATIONAL INCOME TRUST
