SET, MAI dividend payouts

The dividend payout ratio exceeded 60 per cent.
SET senior executive vice president Santi Kiranand said the 406 companies paying dividends comprised 328 SET-listed firms with dividends of Bt376.68 billion and 78 MAI-listed companies with dividends worth Bt4.96 billion, totalling Bt381.65 billion.
These payouts generated a 2015 dividend yield of 3.55 per cent, higher than 2.95 per cent a year earlier, while the 2015 dividend-payout ratio was 61 per cent (excluding property funds, infrastructure funds, and real estate investment trusts).
“Thai listed firms have paid a record high dividend [total], as their performances recovered with support from solid fundamentals, strong cash flows and liquidity management, enabling companies to maintain growth amid business-environment uncertainties,” Santi said.
“Furthermore, the high dividends boosted dividend yields of Thai-listed firms, outperforming the average 3-per-cent dividend yield of other exchanges in the region.”
The top five SET-listed firms that paid the highest dividends, in absolute amounts in descending order, were Advanced Info Service, PTT, Siam Cement, Siam Commercial Bank and Intouch Holdings, totalling Bt119.90 billion, and representing 32 per cent of the SET’s total dividends by value.
Meanwhile, companies in the SET High Dividend Index (SETHD) paid dividends totalling Bt173.66 billion for 2015, or 46 per cent of the total value, and generated a 2015 average dividend yield of 4.35 per cent.
The MAI-listed firms that paid the highest dividends in 2015, in absolute amounts in descending order, were JSP Property, Energy Absolute, Brooker Group, Forth Smart Service, and Union Auction. They paid total dividends of Bt1.92 billion, 39 per cent of the MAI’s total dividends by value.
There are more listed companies considering paying dividends at a later stage.