The Top 40 UK Dividend Stocks for 2025 (Spring/Summer Edition)

It has been ten months since I last updated the UK top 40 dividend stocks list, and much has happened since then.

Trump has been doing his best to shake up the status quo, and although short-term and even medium-term economic disruption seems unavoidable, it’s far too soon to know for sure. The first-order impacts have barely begun, let alone the multiple rounds of unpredictable knock-on effects that will follow, just as night follows day.

As disappointing as this turn of events is, it shouldn’t be a surprise as unpredictability and disruption have always been the norm, rather than the exception.

That is precisely why Warren Buffet generally prefers companies that provide enduring products and services, like soft drinks, razors, insurance and soap, as these things have remained largely unchanged for decades and even centuries, through global wars, pandemic and depressions.

It’s also why my real-world portfolio (and the very similar UK Dividend Stocks Portfolio) holds companies that are, on average, 88 years old, giving them many decades of institutional memory and experience to lean on when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, as it inevitably does from time to time.

And it’s also why the list of stocks below only contains companies that have held or grown their dividend over the last ten years, as that’s a clear sign of durability under very difficult circumstances.

Of course, if you’re looking for spectacular growth then, by all means, check out the latest hot tech IPO, but if you’re looking for a reliable and steadily growing stream of dividends, you will likely find that rummaging through a basket of old corporate "codgers" is a far more fruitful activity.

As always, the list below is just a starting point. If you’re interested in investing in any of them, you’ll still need to carry out some due diligence, so feel free to use my investment checklist as a source of ideas about what to look out for.

Here's the list in PDF format:

• Top 40 UK Dividend Stocks 2025 05 (PDF)

And here's the list in full:

Notes:

1. The data for this list is kindly provided by ShareScope
2. If you're reading this in the future, you can download the latest version of the list in PDF format here: UK Top 40 Quality Dividend Stocks
3. This list is a starting point for further analysis and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any specific stock

Here's a summary of the sort and select rules used to build the list:

Select stocks that:

1. Are constituents of the FTSE 100, FTSE 250, FTSE Small-Cap, FTSE Fledgling or AIM UK 50 indices
2. Paid a dividend every year for the last ten years
3. Held or raised their dividend in every one of the last ten years

Sort those stocks by:

1. Size: Assign each stock a size rank, with the highest market cap having a size rank of 1
2. Yield: Assign each stock a yield rank, with the highest yield having a yield rank of 1
3. Size and Yield: Sum the size and yield rank for each stock; sort the list by the combined rank in ascending order so the stock with the best combination of large size and high dividend yield is at the top of the list
4. Top 40: Remove stocks outside the top 40