How dividends from shares reach you, and how to read a dividend announcement

A dividend is a payment a company's board decides to make to its shareholders. It goes to whoever is on the share register at the close of the record date, so the ex-dividend, record and payment dates in the announcement tell you whether a payment reaches you and when.

By MarketFrame · Published 5 November 2026

The short version: declared, then recorded, then paid

In short, if you own the shares before the ex-dividend date and are still on the register at the record date, the payment comes to you on the payment date. Everything else in a dividend announcement fills in the detail of one of three steps:

Declared. The board announces the amount and the timetable. An interim dividend is usually declared by the board. A final dividend is usually recommended by the board and then put to shareholders for approval at the annual general meeting (AGM).
Recorded. At the close of business on the record date, everyone on the company's register of members is entitled to the payment.
Paid. The money goes out on the payment date, which is often several weeks after the record date.

Follow one dividend from announcement to bank account

This illustration uses invented round numbers. It is not a real company or a real payout. A company announces an interim dividend of 10p per share with its half-year results, and you hold 1,000 shares.

Announcement day. The company publishes the amount, the dates and any option to take shares instead of cash.
Ex-dividend date. From this day the shares trade without the right to this dividend.
Record date. The register is fixed at the close of business.
Payment date. You receive 1,000 x 10p = £100. The London Stock Exchange's rules say dividends are stated gross unless the announcement says otherwise.

Why does the ex-dividend date come before the record date? The London Stock Exchange's Dividend Procedure Timetable says the record date should normally be a Friday and, because standard settlement takes two business days (T+2), the ex-dividend date falls one business day earlier. A purchase made on the ex-dividend date settles too late to put the buyer on the register by the record date, so the seller receives that dividend. Aviva's own published timetable follows this pattern: its 2026 interim dividend went ex-dividend on Thursday 3 September, had a record date of Friday 4 September and a payment date of 15 October.

Where the cash lands depends on how you hold the shares. If you are on the register yourself, the company's registrar pays you, usually into a bank account you have nominated. Aviva, for example, says that if it has no payment instruction from a shareholder it holds the dividend until it gets one. If someone else holds the shares on your behalf, their name is on the register, so the payment reaches you through them. Some companies let you take more shares in place of cash; the dividend reinvestment plans guide covers how that works.

Five lines to find in any dividend announcement

The London Stock Exchange requires a dividend announcement to include the amount and currency, the type of dividend, the record date, the payment date and any scrip, reinvestment or currency option with its last election date. That gives you a checklist that works for any company:

Interim or final. An interim dividend is paid part-way through the financial year. A final dividend follows the full-year results and usually needs shareholder approval at the AGM. You may also see a special dividend, which is a one-off.
Declared or recommended. Watch the verb. Aviva's 2026 interim reads "The Board has declared a 14.0 pence per share interim dividend". Its 2022 final dividend announcement said the directors "agreed a recommendation to shareholders" and that payment was "Subject to shareholder approval at the 2023 Annual General Meeting". Same company, two different stages.
Per-share amount. Multiply it by your shareholding. The total cost of the dividend to the company is a different number, and coverage may quote either.
The dates. Record and payment dates must be there. The ex-dividend date is usually given too; if not, it normally falls one business day before the record date.
Options and deadlines. If the company offers shares in place of cash, the announcement gives a last election date. Miss it and you get whatever the default is.

Also read any conditions. Aviva's 2022 final dividend announcement says that, under Prudential Regulation Authority rules, the dividend "is required to remain cancellable at any point prior to it becoming due and payable". Dividends are never guaranteed. Lloyds Banking Group's own dividend history lists no payment for the 2019 final or the 2020 interim, and none for several years after 2008. A dividend received in the past is a record of what happened, not a promise about the next one.

Why 'dividend' headlines are easy to misread

Headlines compress. "Dividend raised" and "dividend cut" sound like clean good and bad news, but neither reads the same way for every company.

A rise might come from a company with steady earnings and a stated policy of gradual increases. It might also come after a difficult period, when the board wants to show confidence. A cut might reflect real pressure on the business. It might also be a board keeping cash for investment, resetting a payout it judged too high, or, for a bank or insurer, a response to regulatory capital rules. The three-word headline looks identical in each case. The explanation, if there is one, sits in the results announcement.

Before taking a dividend headline at face value, check:

What is it being compared with? Last year's total, the last interim, or what analysts expected?
Is the figure per share or the total cost? A company buying back shares can grow the per-share amount while the total paid out barely moves, and the reverse is also possible. Aviva, for example, frames its guidance as growth in the cash cost of the dividend.
Is the dividend declared, or only recommended and awaiting the AGM?
Does the company give its reasons in the announcement?

Where dividend news shows up in MarketFrame's tone scores

Every morning MarketFrame reads the UK business news about each FTSE 100 company, checks which stories are really about that company, and scores the tone of the coverage from -10 (clearly bad news for the company) to +10 (clearly good). It is free to read, and the archive starts on 30 September 2026. The daily FTSE news hub shows the latest day; company pages such as Aviva and Lloyds Banking Group show how coverage has moved day by day, with each headline and its own score. If you are new to the index itself, start with what the FTSE 100 is.

The tone score measures how coverage reads. It says nothing about where a share price is headed, and it is not a forecast. A dividend story can score well because the wording is upbeat while the share price falls the same day, and the reverse happens too. Use the score to see which way coverage is leaning and which stories moved it, then read the source for the facts.

Where to read the original announcement

Summaries lose detail, ours included, and with dividends the detail that matters is the dates, the conditions and whether the dividend is declared or only recommended.

The company's investor relations site. Most FTSE 100 companies keep a dividends page with the timetable and history, as Aviva and Lloyds do.
RNS and the FCA's National Storage Mechanism. Listed companies must release dividend details through a Primary Information Provider such as RNS, the London Stock Exchange's news service. The FCA's National Storage Mechanism keeps copies of these announcements, including the Aviva announcement quoted above.
gov.uk for tax. How dividends are taxed depends on your own circumstances, so gov.uk's tax on dividends page is a better place to check than any news story.

Questions people ask

How do you get dividends from shares?

You need to be on the company's register of members at the close of business on the record date. In practice that means owning the shares before the ex-dividend date. The company then pays on the payment date, either directly through its registrar or through whoever holds the shares on your behalf.

How is a dividend paid on shares?

Usually in cash on the payment date. If you are on the register yourself, the company's registrar pays into the bank account you have nominated. If someone holds the shares for you, the payment reaches you through them. Some companies also offer a way to take shares instead, covered in our [dividend reinvestment plans guide](/guides/dividend-reinvestment-plans-explained).

What is the difference between the ex-dividend date and the payment date?

The ex-dividend date is the first day the shares trade without the right to the upcoming dividend. Under the London Stock Exchange's timetable it normally falls one business day before the record date. The payment date is when the money is actually paid, often several weeks later.

Do I have to pay tax on dividends from shares?

It depends on your circumstances. According to gov.uk there is a £500 dividend allowance, dividend income within your Personal Allowance is not taxed, and dividends from shares held in an ISA are not taxed. Above that, the rate depends on your Income Tax band. Check [gov.uk/tax-on-dividends](https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-dividends) for the current rules.

Does a dividend announcement mean the share price will rise?

No. An announcement tells you what the board has decided or recommended. It is not a share-price forecast, and the tone of news about a dividend is not one either. A dividend can also be cancelled before it is paid, and past payments do not guarantee future ones.

Sources

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