FTSE 100 ex-dividend dates: May 2026
Whatever your investment strategy, it’s important to know when popular shares start trading without rights to the latest dividend. Graeme Evans names this month’s ex-div stocks.
5th May 2026 15:43
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
Ex-dividend stocks in May will include BP (LSE:BP.), Unilever (LSE:ULVR) and GSK (LSE:GSK) as 17 companies representing 19% of the FTSE 100 by weight are due to trade without the value of their latest payments.
Others in the calendar include RELX (LSE:REL), Glencore (LSE:GLEN) and Tesco (LSE:TSCO), while B&Q owner Kingfisher (LSE:KGF) is set for the biggest share price percentage hit as a result of being marked ex-dividend.
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Ex-dividend dates in the FTSE 100 span four Thursdays in May, with the most significant being 14 May when BP, Unilever and GSK reach the cut-off for the awards declared with quarterly results at the end of April.
The trio account for more than 10% of the FTSE 100 by weight, meaning a setback for the headline value of the blue-chip index when the shares lose the value of these dividends.
Investors who purchased the shares before 14 May and still owned them on that date will receive the latest dividend awards, which in the case of 6.15p a share from BP (8.32 US cents) and 40.27p (€0.4664) by Unilever are due several weeks later on 26 June. GSK hands over 17p a share on 9 July.
Knowing the ex-dividend dates of companies helps investors time their dealings, particularly those seeking income who might wish to buy shares before the cut-off point.
There may also be reasons why an investor would rather not receive income, perhaps for tax purposes. In this case, they might sell ahead of the ex-dividend date.
Someone who is looking to buy but is interested in a capital gain rather than income, might wait until the ex-div date to buy the shares, especially if a larger dividend is being paid.
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Remember, though, 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.
Thursday’s first ex-dividend date of May includes the 4.6% yielding car insurer Admiral Group (LSE:ADM), which is due to pay a special as well as final dividend on 5 June. The total of 90p represents an ex-dividend impact equivalent to 2.69% of today’s share price.
LexisNexis business Relx is also ex-div on Thursday, having declared its 48p a share dividend as long ago as 12 February. The shares have rallied by about a third since the full-year results presentation, when sentiment was clouded by AI disruption fears.
The subsequent recovery has reduced the ex-dividend impact to 1.79%, which compares with 1.1% for Glencore when the mining giant goes ex-dividend on Thursday.
The 9.7p a share full-year offering by Tesco is due to be marked ex-dividend on 14 May, leading to a 2.05% impact for shares based on today’s price of 471.6p. The biggest hit is 3.05% for Kingfisher, with its 8.6p a share full-year award due to turn ex-dividend on 28 May.
| Company | Ex-dividend date | Final, Interim, Quarterly, Special | Dividend due | Forecast yield (%) | Index weight |
| Admiral Group (LSE:ADM) | 07-May | F+S | 90p | 5.0 | 0.33 |
| Glencore (LSE:GLEN) | 07-May | I | $0.085 (6.28p) | 2.7 | 1.78 |
| RELX (LSE:REL) | 07-May | F | 48p | 2.7 | 2.29 |
| BP (LSE:BP.) | 14-May | Q | $0.0832 (6.15p) | 4.4 | 2.83 |
| Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (EURONEXT:CCEP) | 14-May | I | €0.82 (70.8p) | 2.8 | 0.60 |
| Coca-Cola HBC AG (LSE:CCH) | 14-May | F | €1.2 (104p) | 2.6 | 0.32 |
| GSK (LSE:GSK) | 14-May | Q | 17p | 3.7 | 3.04 |
| Pershing Square Holdings Ord (LSE:PSH) | 14-May | Q | $0.1837 (13.56p) | 0.26 | |
| Tesco (LSE:TSCO) | 14-May | F | 9.7p | 3.2 | 1.16 |
| Unilever (LSE:ULVR) | 14-May | Q | €0.4664 (40.27p) | 3.8 | 4.34 |
| Bunzl (LSE:BNZL) | 21-May | F | 53.9p | 3.2 | 0.28 |
| Whitbread (LSE:WTB) | 21-May | F | 60.6p | 4.3 | 0.18 |
| Alliance Witan Ord (LSE:ALW) | 28-May | I | 7.33p | 0.20 | |
| Associated British Foods (LSE:ABF) | 28-May | I | 20.7p | 3.3 | 0.26 |
| Informa (LSE:INF) | 28-May | F | 15p | 2.9 | 0.47 |
| Intertek Group (LSE:ITRK) | 28-May | F | 107.7p | 3.6 | 0.30 |
| Kingfisher (LSE:KGF) | 28-May | F | 8.6p | 4.3 | 0.22 |
Source: interactive investor, ShareScope. Data and dividend currency conversions correct as at 5 May 2026. Index weight is for FTSE 100 and estimated as at 31 Dec 2025.
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