Sunday newspaper round-up: Dividend payments, Beijing, Dow Jones

AJ Bell believes that dividend payments by FTSE 100 companies will hit a record £85.8bn in 2023, for an 8% increase in comparison to 2022 and far above the £61.8bn low plumbed during Covid-19. According to analysts cited by the broker, that was in spite of estimates for slower profit growth, which was expected to come to a halt in 2024. In fact, dividends of £90.9bn were projected for 2024. Nonetheless, just 20 names would account would account for 72% of the total in 2022 with Shell, Glencore, Rio Tinto and British American Tobacco at the top of the leaderboard for payouts. - Financial Mail on Sunday

Beijing's crematoriums are busy around the clock with horses queued outside amid piles of body bags in metal recipients, even as hospital wards are saturated with the severely ill from Covid-19, while chemists have run out of cough treatments. Some predictive models point to as many as 280m infections and at least 1m deaths with the catastrophe potentially crippling the economy as the country attempts to reopen. According to Paul Hunter, a medical professor at the University of East Anglia: "The problem they have is that a lot of the benefit they gained from vaccines has now gone, even against severe disease." - The Sunday Telegraph

Bloomberg owner, Michael Bloomberg, is interested in the acquisition of either Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal's parent company, or the Washington Post, Axios reported. According to Axios, Bloomberg would rather buy Dow Jones, but would purchase the Post if its owner, Jeff Bezos, were willing to entertain a bid. Some analysts however consider it highly unlikely that News Corp's Rupert Murdoch might sell the Wall Street Journal. - Guardian

Royal Mail boss Simon Thompson and senior managers have warned staff that the parcel delivery company is now fighting for its life. The warning comes as workers prepare for further strikes and City analysts say the 506-year old outfit is is "terminal decline". Royal Mail has also cautioned that neither government nor Ofcom could be expected to come galloping to the rescue. Investment manager Rob Burgeman at Brewin Dolphin believed Royal Mail needed to staunch the haemorrhaging of cash and seriously consider splitting the business into separate parcel and mail delivery units. - The Financial Mail on Sunday