LONDON, April 9 (Reuters) - UK-listed companies could cancel
about $60 billion in dividend payments this year following
Britain's lockdown and calls from regulators to preserve cash
during the coronavirus crisis, according to a report by
analytics company Link Group.
As Britain battles to curb the spread of virus, the report
published on Thursday showed that a record 41% of dividend
payouts by the country's listed companies were under threat if
the situation worsens.
Link Group, which provides shareholder management services
as well as analytics, said it based its UK Dividend Monitor
findings on publicly available data from companies listed on
Britain's main stock market, and consensus analyst forecasts.
Companies had already announced a staggering 23.8 billion
pounds ($29.5 billion) of dividend cuts and delays by April 5,
it said, warning that a "UK recession is already underway, but
duration and severity are unknowable at this stage".
British banks led the way as top lenders scrapped or
postponed 13.6 billion pounds in planned payouts after the Bank
of England asked them to halt dividends, while also encouraging
them not to pay executive bonuses.
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group
, Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered
and the British arm of Spain's Santander all
put their payouts on ice in a co-ordinated industry response
earlier this month.
The next largest batch of potentially frozen dividends came
from the mining sector, led by heavyweight Glencore,
which deferred to August a decision on its proposed $2.6 billion
payout for this year while it weighed the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on its business and on the economy.
The total amount of investor payouts being scrapped this
year could nearly double, as an additional 23.9 billion pound
worth of dividends could be at risk, Link said adding that half
of the amount could come from an oil sector hit by a price war
between the world's top oil producers Saudi Arabia and Russia.
But much of that could depend on a meeting on Thursday, when
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its
allies led by Russia, the group known as OPEC+, will discuss a
potential big output cut to shore up crude prices that have also
been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.
($1 = 0.8080 pounds)
(Reporting by Joice Alves; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)