Japanese equities have invariably surpassed their developed and emerging market counterparts in Asia Pacific as far as stability in the dividends' trajectory is concerned. As often cited by the management, improving shareholders' value is of paramount importance, which in turn is observable in the market's historical payout trends with steady payout increases. However, ever since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, even Japan, the most durable market felt the wrath of the virus and struggled to abide by its primary goal of shareholder return.

• Nikkei 225 dividends are expected to finish fiscal year ending in March 2021 (FY 2021) at USD82,018 million, representing a downtick of 4.4%.
• The industrial and auto sectors are expected to decline by 12.97% and 10.61%, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.
• The telecommunication and healthcare sectors are projected to rise marginally by 4.25% and 3.00%, respectively, in 2021.

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For more information, please contact DividendsAPAC@ihsmarkit.com

Posted 10 May 2021 by JaeHee Lim, Senior Product Management Analyst, IHS Markit and

Suhit Saxena, Research Analyst I, S&P Global Market Intelligence and

Tanisha Bhardwaj, Reseach Analyst I, Equities, S&P Global Market Intelligence

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.