Each quarter, online investment platform AJ Bell releases its excellent Dividend Dashboard. Each report forecasts FTSE 100 dividends over the coming quarter and year. AJ Bell also records share buybacks — when companies purchase their own shares to shrink their share base. And 2026 could be a record year for both…
Delightful dividends
Dividends are cash payouts from companies to shareholders. Not all London-listed businesses pay dividends, but most FTSE 100 firms do. Future dividends are not guaranteed, so they can be cut or cancelled without notice. This happened repeatedly during the 2020/21 pandemic.
As a value/income investor, I’m a big fan of dividends — the closest thing to ‘free money’ I’ve found. Once, US business tycoon John D Rockefeller even remarked, “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It is to see my dividends coming in”.
Good news: AJ Bell expects £88bn in FTSE 100 dividends for 2026. In addition, Footsie companies have announced £29.4bn of share buybacks for 2026, more than half 2025’s total. Hence, the UK stock market now offers one of the highest cash yields among world equity markets.
Catching this cash
Currently, my family portfolio is balanced between high-yielding dividend shares and US growth stocks. We own perhaps 25 different UK shares, including many long-established FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 businesses.
Even better, the FTSE 100 has surged by 34.5% over the past 12 months, beating many major stock indexes. Meanwhile, the US S&P 500 is up 29.6% over one year, while the tech-heavy US Nasdaq Composite index has gained 39.3%. (All figures excluding dividends.)
The simplest way to seize a share of this flood of FTSE 100 cash is to buy low-cost passive funds that track the index. Some trackers charge fees as low as 0.06% a year. I see this as the cheapest, simplest way to grab dividends and global growth (because over three-quarters of Footsie earnings come from overseas).
Hi, yields!
From the latest Dividend Dashboard, I note my family portfolio owns three of the five highest-yielding FTSE 100 shares. But we don’t own stock in Land Securities Group (LSE: LAND), the UK’s largest developer of commercial property.
British property investors and developers have had a hard time since 2020. In particular, the Covid-19 pandemic led to a rise in hybrid working and working from home. Also, rising interest rates since 2022 have dramatically pushed up borrowing costs.
Then again, real estate was the world’s original asset class, plus my family portfolio is under-exposed to this sector. And Land Securities owns a wide range of properties, from London offices to leading shopping centres and major retail parks.
At the current share price of 583.5p, this stock offers a market-beating dividend yield of 7% a year. That’s nearing twice the Bank of England’s base rate of 3.75% a year. The shares are up 10.9% over one year, but down 18.6% over five — and perhaps hover in value territory?
Therefore, I shall recommend Land Securities as a new high-yield holding to my family. Again, the past six years have been rough for this industry — and further rate hikes or falling valuations could mean more tough times for property businesses. Even so, I’m still drawn to that 7% yearly cash!
