The dividends have increased the total "real" return on average equity to the double, about 3.2%.

"Companies are running lean and mean, productivity is way up, and dividends should increase," prompted partly by new tax breaks for dividends, he said.

I.B.M.'s dividend will increase to 40 cents a share from 35 cents.

The dividend and increases in cash flow get you to 10 or 11 percent, so the rest comes from acquisitions and development.

In the first three months of the year, corporate earnings grew by less than 14 percent while dividends increased by almost 16 percent.

A final dividend of 3p increases the total payout by 1p to 4.15p.

The dividend has been steadily increasing since 2000 and yields just under 3%.

It assumes that dividends will increase at a constant growth rate (less than the discount rate) forever.

Under the new proposal, Irving's dividend may still increase as its earnings grow, but it cannot rise to $4.50 immediately.

Air France' s share dividends, for example, have increased by 22%, and this happened three days after the attacks on New York and Washington.