Biggest FTSE 100 dividend stock leads April windfall
It’s among the most lucrative months for blue-chip dividend payments including a distribution from an index giant. Graeme Evans runs through his latest dividend list.
26th March 2026 15:49
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
Big April dividend increases by HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA), GSK (LSE:GSK) and Rio Tinto Ordinary Shares (LSE:RIO) are set to underline the income appeal of the FTSE 100 index at a time of heightened stock market volatility.
With high-yielding M&G Ordinary Shares (LSE:MNG) and Unilever (LSE:ULVR) among other companies due to make distributions, blue-chip shareholders are set to receive a total of £10.7 billion in the month.
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That’s close to the £11 billion recorded a year ago, even though there’s no contribution this time from Barclays (LSE:BARC), NatWest Group (LSE:NWG) and Diageo (LSE:DGE) after they handed over £2.7 billion in April 2025.
HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA) has helped to close the gap after the banking giant lifted its fourth interim dividend to 45 US cents a share, which compares with the 36 US cents declared a year earlier.
The total value of the distribution on 30 April is about £5.8 billion, which is up from £4.9 billion the year before as HSBC underlines its status as the biggest payer in the FTSE 100 index.
The Asia-focused lender and second-largest London-listed company has topped the Computershare rankings for each of the last three years, with Shell (LSE:SHEL) the next best over that period.
HSBC shares set a record near 1,400p at the end of February, fuelled by its commitment to maintain a dividend payout ratio of 50% of earnings in 2026, 2027 and 2028.
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Its annual report showed that dividends paid in 2025, together with a 49% increase in the share price, delivered a total shareholder return for the year of more than 57%.
Rio Tinto held the crown as FTSE 100’s biggest dividend payer prior to the three-year dominance of HSBC. That was due to 2021’s surge in commodity prices as the mining sector accounted for £1 in every £6 declared by UK listed companies over the following year.
Rio’s plan for the 16 April payment of 254 US cents a share, represents a 13% rise on the distribution in 2025.
The unchanged total of 402 US cents worth $6.5 billion for the year as a whole extended Rio’s record of returns at the top end of its 40-60% of earnings guidance range to ten years in a row.
For the five years to the end of last year, Rio Tinto’s total shareholder return stood at 66.4% compared with 79.8% in 2024’s annual report and 263.3% in 2021.
GSK shareholders are set to receive a fourth interim dividend payment of 18p a share on 9 April, which represents an increase from the 16p a share paid last year and amounts to £720 million.
The award boosts the total for the 2025 financial year to 66p a share or £2.66 billion, up from 2023’s 61p a share. GSK has already said it expects to pay 70p a share for 2026, which is guided by a 40-60% pay-out ratio through the investment cycle.
The quarterly dividend of consumer goods giant Unilever, which is being paid on 10 April rather than in March as happened last year, adds £888 million to the monthly FTSE 100 total.
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The fifth-largest company in the FTSE 100 index has increased the fourth-quarter dividend to 46.64 euro cents a share, which equates to a sterling figure of 40.52p and is a 3% increase on the previous quarter’s award.
A share consolidation took place in December that has maintained comparability of Unilever’s share price, earnings per share and dividends per share before and after the demerger of its The Magnum Ice Cream Co NV (LSE:MICC) ice cream business.
At 7.3%, M&G trades with the biggest dividend yield out of the nine companies due to make payments in April. The savings and investments business is scheduled to hand over 13.8p a share on 30 April, which is worth a total of £327 million.
Having moved to a progressive dividend policy at last year’s results, the total dividend of 20.5p share for 2025 worth £489 million represents a 2% increase on the year before.
The other dividend payments in the month are Endeavour Mining (LSE:EDV) on 14 April, LondonMetric Property (LSE:LMP) on 17 April, Schroders (LSE:SDR) on 23 April and Entain (LSE:ENT) on 24 April.
Company | Payment date | Current dividend yield (%) |
09-Apr | 3.2 | |
10-Apr | 3.8 | |
14-Apr | 2.5 | |
16-Apr | 4.6 | |
17-Apr | 6.6 | |
23-Apr | 3.7 | |
24-Apr | 3.4 | |
30-Apr | 4.6 | |
30-Apr | 7.3 |
Source: interactive investor, ShareScope. Data and dividend conversions to sterling from dollars at exchange rates on 26 March 2026.
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