In the UK, during the previous 12 months, there were a total of 1572 companies (stocks, ITs, and ETFs) listed on the London Stock Exchange that paid a dividend. The majority of these companies pay dividends on a biannual basis, meaning they make two dividend payments per year. Some companies pay dividends on a quarterly basis, meaning you would receive four dividend payments per year, while others only make a single dividend payment a year. A very small number of companies pay dividends on a monthly basis. A breakdown of the dividend payment frequency of UK listed companies is shown above. You can see the most common dividend distribution frequency is two dividends per year. The actual dividend payment dates are spread out throughout the year and is different for each company.

Quarterly and monthly dividend payments can be attractive to income seeking investors as they can provide a more frequent stream of income. However, the vast majority of quarterly and monthly dividend payers on the London Stock Exchange are Investment Trusts (ITs), and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Out of the total of 301 quarterly dividend payers, only 22 are non-IT and non-ETF, and the monthly dividend payers consist of only ITs and ETFs. A full list of all monthly and quarterly dividend payers can be found on the Quarterly Dividend Stocks page and the Monthly Dividend Stocks page.