Europe's bumper Q2 puts global dividend payouts on track for record year

Companies around the world are on track to pay investors a record $1.64 trillion in dividends this year following a more than 6% jump in the second quarter, a report on Wednesday showed. The figures by fund manager Janus Henderson estimated that 88% of companies globally had either increased their dividends or held them steady in Q2, resulting in $568.1 billion worth of worldwide payouts since the start of the year. The fastest growth came in Europe, where a number of countries such Italy and Spain have introduced or are looking at windfall taxes on bumper profits made by banks…