L&G, Shell, BP and HSBC head £10bn FTSE 100 dividend payday

FTSE 100 shareholders are set for a near-£10 billion windfall when 23 companies including HSBC Holdings, Shell, BP and the 8% yielding Legal & General Group make dividend payments in June.

Rolls-Royce Holdings is also in the dividend calendar for the second year in a row, alongside improved distributions by Glencore, RELX, Tesco and the income stock Imperial Brands.

However, Diageo shareholders face a big drop in their summer income after the Guinness and Smirnoff owner opted to focus resources on balance sheet strengthening.

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The month features distributions by four of the five biggest payers of 2025, led by Shell after the oil giant declared a first-quarter dividend of 39.06 US cents for payment on 29 June.

That’s 9% more than last year and a 5% improvement on the previous quarter, representing an outlay of $2.1 billion or about £1.6 billion. The sum equates to about 28.99p a share, with shareholders due to discover the exact sterling amount on 15 June.

BP plans to pay 8.32 US cents a share on 26 June, which is worth about £953 million. A sharp recovery for shares on the back of higher oil prices means BP yields 4.5%, compared with last year’s 6.7% when the dividend payment was eight US cents a share.

The sterling amount for this year’s first-quarter dividend will be declared on 9 June but is currently on track to be in the region of 6.17p.

The pound was strong throughout most of 2025, which depressed headline dividend growth by the FTSE 100 as a large portion of UK payouts are denominated in US dollars.

This effect continued into the first quarter, although not by as much as first feared after the Middle East war pushed sterling down against the dollar.

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The latest Computershare dividend monitor said FX effects reduced its headline growth rate by one percentage point in the first quarter, compared to its projection of 1.5.

The sterling conversion on the unchanged HSBC dividend of 10 US cents will be based on the 15 June exchange rate, ahead of the payment date on 26 June.

The banking giant is due to hand over about £1.3 billion, having paid £5.8 billion through a fourth-quarter dividend of 45 US cents or 33.3p a share in April of this year.

Unilever, which ranked fifth on 2025’s dividend list, is due to add £879 million to the FTSE 100’s monthly total when it pays 40.46p a share on 26 June. This is broadly similar to April’s quarterly amount but is 4% more than the sum declared by the consumer goods giant last year.

Reckitt Benckiser Group, which is paying on 12 June rather than last year’s May distribution, has set aside £815 million with the payment of a full-year award of 127.8p a share.

That’s 5% more than last year and follows February’s one-off return of £1.6 billion through a special dividend of 235p a share.

A further five FTSE 100 companies have plans to distribute £500 million or more in June.

They include mining giant Glencore, which used to be one of the summer’s most generous payers after top-up payments meant it handed over £2.2 billion in 2023.

This year’s total amounts to £737 million, much better than 2025’s equivalent of £449 million, after Glencore declared a total of 17 US cents share or $2 billion across 2025.

The full-year sum, which is due to be paid in equal instalments in June and in September, includes a  top-up cash distribution of seven US cents a share or $800 million relating to an agribusiness merger involving its interest in grain handler Viterra.

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Glencore’s payment of 6.29p a share takes place on 3 June, the day before BAE Systems hands over £669 million through 22.8p a share. Relx is due to distribute £849 million via 67.5p a share on 18 June and Tesco £613 million through 9.7p a share on 26 June.

The quartet have current dividend yields of between 1.8% in the case of BAE and 3.1% for Tesco, which compares with 8% for the popular income stock Legal & General.

The insurer has increased the 4 June payment by 2% to 15.67p, having declared its intention to return more than £5 billion through dividends and buybacks across 2025-27.

Rolls is the lowest yielding at 0.8%, reflecting the fact that it only returned to the dividend-paying ranks through last June’s payment of 6p a share.

The engine giant has promised “regular and growing dividends” after targeting payouts of 30-40% of underlying profit after tax. The policy has been accompanied by the launch of the first buyback of shares in a decade.

Rolls declared a total dividend of 9.5p in February’s results, representing a 32% payout ratio and including plans to distribute a full-year 5p a share on 3 June.

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The setback for Diageo shareholders means they can expect an interim dividend of 20 US cents or 14.94p a share on 4 June, compared with the 40.5 US cents received last April.

The drinks giant has set a minimum floor of 50 US cents across the year as the FTSE 100’s 12th largest payer of 2025 seeks financial flexibility after a period of poor trading in North America.

Imperial Brands is due to pay a quarterly dividend of 41.68p a share on 30 June, a move worth £322 million after recently increasing its half-year distribution by 4%. The shares yield 5.7%.

ii was recently named Best Overall Trading Platform for dividend investing by MoneyMagpie, believing it to be “one of the strongest all-round options available in 2026”.

Source: interactive investor, ShareScope. Data and dividend conversions to sterling from dollars/euros at exchange rates correct on 26 May 2026.