Investment: Equities

Dividends — the directors’ cut

At least the savers whose interest rates have been squeezed still have their money in the bank. Shareholders, by contrast, are seeing their dividends slashed after also suffering substantial share price falls — and there is no compensation scheme to cover their lost capital.

That is a risk of equity investment but there was a time when cutting the dividend was the last thing a company did; now it’s top of the agenda as soon as business gets tough.