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Important Notice: IG Markets South Africa will no longer provide Trading Accounts. This change does not affect existing International/offshore accounts. New applications will be supported by IG International, part of IG Group, via https://www.ig.com/en. Important Notice: IG Markets South Africa will no longer provide Trading Accounts. This change does not affect existing International/offshore accounts. New applications will be supported by IG International, part of IG Group, via https://www.ig.com/en.

Dividend definition

Dividend has a particular significance in relation to IG's platform. Here, we define dividend in general investing and explain what it means to you when trading with IG.

A dividend is the portion of profit that a company chooses to return to its shareholders, usually expressed as a percentage.

When a company makes profit, it can choose to either reinvest all of its profit back into the business or pay some portion (or all) of it back to shareholders in the form of a dividend. It is one of the ways in which shareholders can hope to earn money from their investment; if a business does not offer a dividend then investors will hope to be compensated in the form of high share growth.

Dividends usually come in the form of either a one-off or regular cash payments, but can also be paid in property or further shares of stock.

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With IG

If you buy a stock with our share dealing service, then you will receive dividends if the company pays them.

With CFDs and spread bets, we make an adjustment on equity and stock index positions if a dividend is paid.

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Find out more about shares trading with IG.

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