The cash dividends distributed by the public joint stock companies listed on UAE capital markets for 2017 Fiscal Year amounted to AED37.2 billion, a growth of 14.4 percent over 2016.

The 2017's dividends are the highest posted over the past several years and the largest in the Middle East region, not only across the GCC states.

According to the latest industry data, the number of companies which distributed cash to their shareholders rose to 68 companies, all of which are listed on DFM and ADX and operating across multiple business platforms.

The banking sector provides the lion's share of gains, AED18 billion, a growth of 5.9 percent over last year, accounting for 48.4 percent of total dividends distributed by all listed companies. A total of 13 banks paid dividends to their stockholders this year against 14 last year.

The telecoms sector comes second with a total of AED8.543 billion in cash, accounting for 23 percent of the total dividends, up 8.15 percent over 2016.

The realty sector comes third with total gains of AED3.6 billion, up 2.2 percent over last year, followed by the transport and logistics sector, AED2 billion, investment and finance, AED1.6 billion, hospitality & leisure, AED1.42 billion, and then insurance sector, AED590 million, with other listed sectors making the remaining payments.

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