Six stocks pay out in meanest month for FTSE 100 dividends

A run of dividend growth spanning 128 years across three companies will continue in August when British American Tobacco (LSE:BATS) and two other FTSE 100 income stalwarts return money to shareholders.

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The tobacco giant has lifted its annual dividend for 26 years in a row, which is relatively short compared with the 55 years of F&C Investment Trust Ord (LSE:FCIT) and 47 years by compounder Halma (LSE:HLMA).

The trio are among just six stocks in the dividends calendar for the next month, with the payment of £1.32 billion to BAT shareholders on 14 August accounting for most of the FTSE 100's £1.9 billion total.

The fall from 2025's £2.5 billion is partly because Vodafone Group (LSE:VOD) and ICG (LSE:ICG) are making their payments on Thursday and Friday this week rather than in August as happened last year.

The turnaround focus of Burberry Group (LSE:BRBY) also means shareholders of the luxury goods group have missed out on their usual August payment for a second successive year.

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The other companies in this year's dividend calendar include United Utilities Group  Class A (LSE:UU.), which itself is on a 15-year run of dividend growth, plus Next (LSE:NXT) and Games Workshop Group (LSE:GAW).

The biggest yield is the 5.36% of British American Tobacco, which is due to pay the second of four equal instalments of 61.26p a share in relation to the 2025/26 financial year.

The highly cash generative company behind the brands Dunhill, Lucky Strike and Vuse has grown its dividend per share in absolute terms every year since 2000.

Based on a long-running policy of targeting 65% of long-term sustainable earnings, this record included growth of 2% in the most recent financial year to a total of 245.04p.

It has returned £34 billion to shareholders over the last six years, including £1.8 billion of share buybacks since 2024 and with a further £1.3 billion of repurchases committed for 2026.

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F&C Investment Trust, which has a 55-year record of continuous dividend growth, is due to pay £19 million, or 0.99p a share on 3 August as the first quarterly instalment in relation to the 2026 financial year.

This is up from the previous year's 0.95p a share, a figure adjusted to take into account the 4:1 share split that took place in May after F&C shares rose from 258.5p at the end of 2005 and 449.2p at the end of 2015 to 1,252p at the end of 2025.

A lower price per share benefits shareholders who invest monthly or elect to re-invest their dividends, while it also increases the wider affordability and liquidity of the shares.

The trust, which has NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) as its three biggest holdings, lifted its pre-split dividend for the 2025 year by 6.4% to 16.6p in what represented its 158th annual payment.

Over the last 10 years it has increased the payout by 72.9% for 5.6% compound annual growth, compared with inflation of 39.7% at a compound rate of 3.4%.

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Halma, which is a group of safety technology companies, has a record of 47 years of consecutive dividend growth of 5% or more.

The 2025/26 financial year saw 7% growth to 24.74p, including the £57 million or 15.11p a share due for payment on 14 August.

Total shareholder return over the last 20 years to the end of 2025/26 stood at 2,815%, compared with 260% for the FTSE 100 index and the Nasdaq Composite at 823%.

However, the shares have fallen by more than a fifth since annual results on 11 June. The slump came even though Halma grew revenue by 15% to above £2.5 billion for the first time and delivered its 23rd consecutive year of adjusted profit growth.

Disappointment over guidance in photonics, which is the part of the business that has provided a tailwind to Halma’s growth in recent years, is likely to have been behind the reverse.

United Utilities, which trades with a dividend yield of 3.9%, is set to pay 35.78p a share on 3 August. This outlay of £266 million represents a rise of 3.5% compared with the dividend last year, in line with the average annual increase in CPI inflation plus housing costs (CPIH).

Next’s 14.5% higher annual award of 181p a share on 3 August follows a strong year for the retailer after pre-tax profits lifted 14.5% to £1.16 billion and earnings per share grew by 17%.

Cash flow remained strong as Next returned a total of £839 million to shareholders through dividends worth a total of £286.5 million, share buybacks of £131.4 million and its B Share Scheme capital distribution of £421.5 million.

Based on achieving its profit guidance of £1.21 billion, Next expects to return £324 million to shareholders through ordinary dividends in 2026/27. This includes the August payment of £207 million and represents 36% of its forecast post-tax profit with dividend cover of 2.8 times.

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Next told shareholders in this year's annual report: “Sales growth must achieve one overarching financial goal: the delivery of sustainable long-term growth in earnings and dividends per share.

“Every activity we undertake – from new warehouses and marketing campaigns to the launch of new brands – must be assessed in terms of profitability and return on investment.

“We do not indulge in projects that some might think are ‘strategic’, but offer little hope of high returns or healthy margins. In short, the company grows by following the money.”

Games Workshop is due to hand over 90p a share on 7 August, representing the first payment in relation to 2026/27 and an increase from the 85p seen at the same stage a year earlier.

As the company only makes payments out of “truly surplus capital”, the quarterly move provided investors with a positive insight into recent trading by the £6.5 billion-valued Warhammer hobby firm at the start of the financial year.

Tuesday's annual results included a dividend of 140p a share for payment on 5 October, lifting the total so far to 230p from 140p in 2025/26.

Source: interactive investor, ShareScope. Data correct on 27 July 2026.