FTSE 100 ex-dividend dates: August 2026

Legal & General Group (LSE:LGEN), BT Group (LSE:BT.A), Glencore (LSE:GLEN) and NatWest Group (LSE:NWG) will be among the trading opportunities when a bumper crop of FTSE 100 stocks are marked ex-dividend during August.

Companies accounting for over half the blue-chip index by weight have so far disclosed that they will begin trading without the value of their dividends on one of four Thursdays in the month.

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The list is set to grow as more companies post interim or quarterly results and announce their dividend timetables, which will include the cut-off point for entitlement to the latest awards.

Many investors use the ex-dividend dates of companies as a way to time their dealings, including those seeking income who may wish to buy higher-yielding shares before the deadline.

Someone who is looking to buy but is interested in a capital gain rather than income, might wait until the ex-dividend date to buy the shares, especially if a larger dividend is being paid and the dividend cut-off point might lead to a drop in share price.

There may also be reasons that an investor would rather not receive income, perhaps for tax purposes. In this case, they might sell ahead of the ex-dividend date.

Remember that markets can be volatile and timing your entry into a stock based on certain dates in the diary carries a risk that the share price moves against you.

The impact of so many companies being marked ex-dividend will weigh on the headline performance of the FTSE 100 index in the first two Thursdays of the month.

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More than a quarter of the top flight by weight is due on 6 August, including three of the five biggest FTSE 100 companies.

However, the day's impact on Unilever (LSE:ULVR) shares will be limited by the fact that it is paying a quarterly dividend, while AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) and Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.) are lower-yielding stocks.

The biggest potential hit will be felt by BT Group shareholders as the widely held stock reaches the cut-off point for its 5.87p a share 2025-26 full-year dividend, which is due to be paid on 9 September. The award is equivalent to 2.88% of Friday's share price of 204p.

The 30% rebasing of the Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) interim dividend to 1.58p a share will have a current impact of 1.37%, while the 97% jump in the Barclays (LSE:BARC) award to 5.9p is set to mean a hit of 1.15%. The lenders are due to make the payments on 15 September.

One of the biggest-yielding stocks on that day's ex-dividend line-up is the 4.1% Reckitt Benckiser Group (LSE:RKT), having declared an interim 88.6p a share for distribution on 18 September.

The award is equivalent to 1.67% of the current share price. Other FTSE 100 ex-dividend stocks on that date are RELX (LSE:REL), Standard Chartered (LSE:STAN), Segro (LSE:SGRO), Informa (LSE:INF), St James's Place (LSE:STJ) and Schroders (LSE:SDR).

About a fifth of the FTSE 100 by weight has so far declared 13 August as its ex-dividend date, led by Shell (LSE:SHEL) and GSK (LSE:GSK) ahead of quarterly payments on 21 September and 8 October respectively.

Rio Tinto  Ordinary Shares (LSE:RIO) shares face a dividend impact of about 2.2% after the mining giant hiked its interim award for payment on 24 September by 43% to 211 US cents (158.7p) a share.

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NatWest Group (LSE:NWG), which on Friday declared its intention to pay £955 million or 12p a share on 18 September, will have a dividend impact of 1.75%.

The 5.2% yield on NatWest shares is among the largest of that day’s ex-dividend stocks, with the others being London Stock Exchange Group (LSE:LSEG), Haleon (LSE:HLN), Rentokil Initial (LSE:RTO), Pearson (LSE:PSON), Melrose Industries (LSE:MRO), Babcock International Group (LSE:BAB), IMI (LSE:IMI), Pershing Square Holdings Ord (LSE:PSH) and Aberdeen Group (LSE:ABDN).

The following Thursday, 20 August, includes Imperial Brands (LSE:IMB), whose second-quarter dividend of 41.68p due for payment on 30 September will have an ex-dividend impact of 1.47%.

The biggest is wealth manager Investec (LSE:INVP), which faces a hit of more than 3% after declaring the 15 September payment of a full-year dividend of 21p a share in May’s annual results.

The 2p a share interim dividend of British Gas owner Centrica (LSE:CNA) is equivalent to 1.3% of Friday’s price, with Anglo American (LSE:AAL) the other stock in the ex-dividend diary so far.

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The line-up for Thursday 27 August includes Glencore, which announced in February’s annual results that it would distribute 8.5 US cents a share on 18 September. Autotrader Group (LSE:AUTO), Croda International (LSE:CRDA), Games Workshop Group (LSE:GAW) and Alliance Witan Ord (LSE:ALW) are also ex-dividend that day.

Other companies are set to be added to the calendar in the coming days, including the FTSE 100’s highest-yielding stock Legal & General.

The insurer, which yields dividend income of 7.3%, posts interim results on Wednesday and has said that its ex-dividend date will be 20 August ahead of payment on 25 September. City firm Berenberg recently forecast a 2% increase in the half-year payout to 6.24p a share.

The FTSE 100’s largest stock, HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA), is another company to look out for. The banking giant, which was the UK market’s biggest contributor of dividend income in 2025, posts interim results on Tuesday and is usually marked ex-dividend in August.

Source: ShareScope, London Stock Exchange as at 31 July 2026. Conversions to GBP on 31 July 2026. Indicative index weights as at closing on 30 July 2026.