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In search of dividend progress shares? These FTSE 100 shares are anticipated to ship sturdy payout progress over the following couple of years at the least.
BAE Techniques
Dividend yield: 2.5% for 2024, 2.7% for 2025
The secure nature of arms spending means defence tends to be a rock-solid sector for dividends. That is particularly the case in the present day, as fractures within the world order drive speedy rearmament within the West.
BAE Techniques (LSE:BA.) is one contractor with an extended document of distinguished dividend progress. It’s raised shareholder payouts yearly since 2011. It’s a development Metropolis analysts count on to proceed, making it price a detailed look for my part.
Payouts are anticipated to rise 8%, to 32.3p per share, this yr. Dividend progress is predicted to speed up to 10% in 2025, leading to a full-year payout of 35.5p.
Forecasts for subsequent yr are supported by anticipated earnings rises of seven% and 12% in 2024 and 2025 respectively. As a consequence, estimated dividends for each years are coated 2.1 instances by predicted earnings.
Each readings are above the protection benchmark of two instances, offering dividends forecasts with further metal.
BAE additionally has sturdy monetary foundations to fund dividends in case earnings disappoint. Earnings might fall wanting estimates on account of provide chain points, as an example, a big risk to defence corporations’ annual earnings in the present day.
The Footsie agency had £2.8bn of money on the steadiness sheet as of June.
BAE Techniques’ order backlog is surging, and it hit a document £74.1bn on the midpoint of 2025. It seems to be set to maintain rising too, which bodes properly for longer-term dividends.
Airtel Africa
Dividend yield: 5.4% for 2025, 5.5% for 2026
Telecoms supplier Airtel Africa (LSE:AAF) doesn’t have an extended document of dividend progress like BAE. It’s solely been listed on the London Inventory Trade for 5 years. It additionally lower the annual payout in 2021 because it rebased dividends to chop debt.
Nevertheless, money payouts have surged since then, and by greater than double-digit percentages on events. It’s a development that Metropolis brokers count on to hold on.
For this monetary yr (to March 2025), a complete dividend of 6.52 US cents per share is predicted, up 10% yr on yr. An extra 3% rise is anticipated for monetary 2026, to six.70 cents.
Nevertheless, I have to warn that Airtel’s forecasts aren’t as strong as I’d ideally like.
Earnings are skidding decrease on account of antagonistic foreign money actions (EBITDA dropped 16.5% between April and September). And leverage ranges are sharply rising, with net-debt-to-EBITDA rising to 2.3 instances as of September.
Falling earnings additionally imply dividend cowl turns detrimental for this yr, with predicted earnings of 46.7 US cents per share forecast. On the plus facet, Metropolis analysts count on earnings to rebound strongly in monetary 2026, leaving strong dividend cowl of two.7 instances.
But regardless of the unsure near-term outlook, I nonetheless imagine Airtel Africa shares are price critical consideration by risk-tolerant buyers.
What’s extra, I imagine the long-term image right here stays extremely engaging. Telecoms demand for Africa continues to rocket, with Airtel’s buyer base rising 6.1% yr on yr to 156.6m in September.
