Company description
Providing dividend yield data for UK FTSE Companies
Dividend yields
FTSE 100 dividend yields
Dividend payments
A dividend is allocated as a fixed amount per share with shareholders receiving a dividend in proportion to their shareholding. Dividends can provide stable income and raise morale among shareholders. For the joint-stock company, paying dividends is not an expense; rather, it is the division of after-tax profits among shareholders. Retained earnings (profits that have not been distributed as dividends) are shown in the shareholders' equity section on the company's balance sheet – the same as its issued share capital. Public companies usually pay dividends on a fixed schedule, but may declare a dividend at any time, sometimes called a special dividend to distinguish it from the fixed schedule dividends. Cooperatives, on the other hand, allocate dividends according to members' activity, so their dividends are often considered to be a pre-tax expense.
