Across Europe and North America $56 Billion of Dividends Dropped

(Bloomberg) -- Companies across Western Europe and North America have been tightening their purse strings as the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread.

While we wait to see the official toll on companies’ earnings, the impact on their next scheduled dividend payments is already clear. More than $56 billion of dividends have been scrapped by businesses based in Western Europe, the U.S. and Canada, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In Western Europe another $40 billion has been temporarily postponed.

The bulk of the cancellations, $53 billion (49 billion Euros), came from Western Europe where more than half the total comes from its beleaguered banking sector. HSBC Holdings Plc, the largest cancellation, raised the ire of core investors who called for legal action against the halted payouts. The bank will withhold more than $4 billion of cash that was previously earmarked for investors.

Boeing Co., the Chicago-based planemaker, was the biggest cut by total dollar value in the U.S. It suspended its dividend on March 20 after the outbreak disrupted travel and upended the company’s finances as it was spending heavily to keep its suppliers afloat ahead of the expected midyear return of the 737 Max.

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