UK dividends to fall 13% in 2009 - papers

Investors are braced for their dividend income to fall by 13% this year as Britain's quoted companies horde cash to ride out the recession, reports the Guardian.

The diminished dividend pot of just £52bn is bad news for Britain's pension funds, which rely on the yield from their shareholdings to meet their commitments.

Research by share registration company Capita Registrars showed during the first six months of the year, companies were more interested in raising capital than rewarding shareholders, collecting a record £51bn to bolster battered balance sheets- more than in the five years from 2003 to 2007. Full story.....

BANKS ARE making the highest profits on mortgages since records began. Customers are also facing record costs for overdrafts and personal loans, reports the Telegraph.

The difference between the interest rate banks charge and the rate at which they borrow is the biggest since the Bank of England started collecting data 15 years ago.

The figures demonstrate, two years after the credit crunch began, consumers are being hit harder than ever, despite the Bank cutting interest rates to an all-time low of 0.5%. Full story.....

RUSSIA'S ECONOMY contracted 11% in Q2 and has yet to show any signs of durable recovery, despite the rebound in the price of oil as Putin model hits 'dead end', reports the Telegraph.

President Dmitry Medvedev blamed the country's reliance on energy and commodity exports, saying the economy "crumbled" as the global crisis hit.

"We can't develop like this any further. It's a dead end," he told party leaders.

"We are hovering in place, and the crisis brought this home. We will have to make decisions on changing the structure of the economy. Otherwise our economy has no future. The situation is outrageous and has been for a long time. We continue to ship raw timber for export, and processing is not being developed." Full story.......

THE NUMBER of people out of work in the UK has risen to its highest level since 1995, statistics from the Office of National Statistics have shown. Unemployment increased by 220,000 to 2.44 mllion in the three months to June, taking the jobless rate to 7.8%.

Claims for unemployment benefit grew to its worst level in 12 years, increasing by 24,900 from June to 1.58 million, reports the BBC. Full story....