These dividend stocks will deliver £7.3bn Christmas windfall
Despite a stronger sterling, this group of FTSE 100 companies are returning billions of pounds to shareholders in the weeks ahead. City writer Graeme Evans names them here.
27th November 2025 13:46
by Graeme Evans from interactive investor
The first pre-Christmas British Airways dividend in six years and bigger payouts by Unilever (LSE:ULVR) and Sainsbury (J) (LSE:SBRY)’s are set to boost the seasonal spending power of FTSE 100 shareholders.
December’s total of £7.35 billion from 15 companies compares with the £5.7 billion distributed in 2024, despite this year’s smaller payouts in sterling terms by HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA), BP (LSE:BP.) and Shell (LSE:SHEL).
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The overall increase is driven by the later-than-usual payment of a £1.1 billion full-year dividend by drinks giant Diageo (LSE:DGE), which at 47.91p a share is due to land in accounts on 4 December.
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (LSE:IAG) adds £192 million to the FTSE 100 pot, having returned to its pre-Covid practice of paying an interim dividend in early December worth 50% of the full-year award distributed in late June or early July.
The British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus owner was one of the last in the FTSE 100 to resume dividends after paying 3 euro cents a share in September 2024.
The full-year dividend on 30 June amounted to 6 euro cents before IAG announced alongside last month’s third-quarter results that it would pay 4.8 euro cents on Monday (1 December). The award in sterling terms is 4.2p a share.
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Unilever is distributing a total of £963 million, which is up from £906 million a year earlier after the consumer goods group lifted its third-quarter dividend by 3% to around 39.28p a share.
The payment takes place on Friday 5 December before dealings commence in the company’s demerged entity Magnum Ice Cream Company the following Monday. Shareholders will receive one share for every five held in Unilever.
A share consolidation by Unilever on Tuesday 9th will reduce the number of shares in issue so that the FTSE 100 heavyweight maintains its share price, earnings and dividends per share comparability before and after the demerger.
It has also said it intends to pay its dividend for the fourth quarter in full, despite the completion of the ice cream demerger in the period.
For Sainsbury’s shareholders, the proceeds from the disposal of banking operations means that they will get a special dividend worth £250 million or 11p a share on 19 December.
This will be accompanied by the usual interim dividend, which is up 5% to 4.1p a share and represents 30% of the prior year’s full-year award.
The biggest distribution in the month comes from Shell, which is paying about £1.5 billion on 18 December after it declared a dividend of 35.8 US cents in third-quarter results. That’s the same as the previous quarter but 4% higher than a year earlier.
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The exact sterling amount will be revealed on 8 December but is likely to be in the region of 27.04p a share compared with the 27.03p of a year earlier.
A stronger pound than a year ago has also impacted the value of the following day’s BP dividend, which is set to be about 6.29p a share compared with 6.30p the year before.
The headline award is up 4% on both the previous quarter and a year earlier at 8.32 US cents a share. The conversion to sterling will be announced on 9 December, with the current overall outlay estimated to be in the region of £964 million.
BP yields dividend income of 5.3%, which is the best in December’s calendar and better than the 4.9% for Imperial Brands (LSE:IMB) ahead of the tobacco group’s planned quarterly payment of 40.08p a share on New Year’s Eve.
HSBC, which yields 4.8%, is due to distribute about £1.3 billion on 18 December. This represents its latest quarterly distribution of 10 US cents a share, converting to about 7.55p a share compared with 7.82p the year before.
Company | Payment date | Current dividend yield (%) |
01-Dec | 2.0 | |
03-Dec | 2.0 | |
04-Dec | 4.6 | |
05-Dec | 3.4 | |
05-Dec | 3.3 | |
12-Dec | 1.6 | |
12-Dec | 4.2 | |
12-Dec | 0.4 | |
18-Dec | 4.8 | |
18-Dec | 3.9 | |
19-Dec | 5.3 | |
19-Dec | 0.9 | |
19-Dec | 4.2 | |
31-Dec | 2.1 | |
31-Dec | 4.9 |
Source: interactive investor, ShareScope. Data and dividend conversions to sterling from dollars/euros at exchange rate correct on 26 November 2025.
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