FTSE 100 Dividends Advance 8%

The iShares FTSE 100 ETF plc (LON: ISF) indicates the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) has declared a record twelve-month payout.

Maynard Paton

Maynard has worked at the Fool since 1999. He ran the Qualiport online portfolio on the Fool from November 1999 to September 2005 and was lead adviser for the Champion Shares & Champion Shares PRO stock-picking services from September 2005 to June 2011, at which point he moved to become Deputy Editor of the UK Fool. Prior to joining the Fool, Maynard worked for a year as a Poll Tax clerk and then for six years at the local authority's IT department in the murky world of ICL mainframes and COBOL programming. He relocated to Kent to join a financial services firm's IT department and there discovered the joys of stock market investing. As well as keeping an eye on share prices and his local housing market, Maynard's interests include karting, martial arts and entertaining his young family.

Published 18 November, 2013 8:23 am GMT

| More on: ISF

The content of this article was relevant at the time of publishing. Circumstances change continuously and caution should therefore be exercised when relying upon any content contained within this article.

One of the most popular funds tracking the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE), the iShares FTSE 100 (LSE: ISF) exchange-traded fund (ETF), today confirmed dividends from the blue-chip index had advanced 8% during 2013.

News this morning of a forthcoming 5.15p per share payout from the iShares FTSE 100 now means the ETF has declared dividends of 21.94p per share during the last twelve months — up from 20.27p per share on the preceding twelve months.

The annual dividend from the FTSE 100 ETF is now 2% greater than the pre-banking crash peak of 21.56p per share, which was declared during the twelve months to February 2009.

The ETF’s latest payout underlined how dividends from Britain’s 100 largest companies have continued to advance following the widespread cuts seen during the financial crisis:

12 months to November	iShares FTSE 100 dividend (p per share)
2007	19.07
2008	20.20
2009	17.14
2010	16.18
2011	18.13
2012	20.27
2013	21.94

^{Source: iShares.com}

Recent dividends from the iShares FTSE 100 may have been bolstered by good results from major blue-chip shares. Indeed, members of the FTSE 100 raising their payouts of late include BT, with a 13% advance, Burberry, with a 10% advance, and J Sainsbury, with a 4% advance.

The possibility of even greater returns

While index trackers such as the iShares FTSE 100 are a great way of capturing the long-term collective power of British companies and the stock market, there are always individual shares that have better dividend records — and could deliver better returns — than the wider index.

Right now, the iShares FTSE 100 trades at around 669p and therefore presents today’s buyers with a 3.3% yield — a reasonable if not spectacular income.