New ADX index to provide investors with access to high-dividend stocks

04/12/2025 06:41 AST

The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) Group, among the top 20 globally by market size, is expanding its wide offering of investment tools with the launch of the FTSE ADX Dividend Stars Index, a first of its kind in the region.

Now live, the index offers investors exposure to income-generating equities within Abu Dhabi's robust and dynamic capital market. Starting with 17 constituents that reflect the emirate's diverse economic landscape, it includes companies with strong and consistent dividend performance, well-diversified operations, and footprints that extend across multiple countries and markets, reinforcing Abu Dhabi's growing economic influence beyond the region. Together, these constituents accounted for more than 70 per cent of the total dividend payouts made by listed companies on the ADX in 2025. Their strong financial performance is equally evident in profitability, with combined net profit for the first three quarters of 2025 rising by 20 per cent compared with the same period in 2024, underscoring the solid fundamentals and resilience of these companies.

Encompassing various sectors of the vibrant Abu Dhabi economy - including communication services, industrials, energy, financials, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, and basic materials - the index is the 17th index under the FTSE ADX index series, and the fifth headline index under the FTSE Russell partnership. The launch further reinforces the ADX's continuous drive to deepen its market and enhance the tools available to investors.

This new index demonstrates the ADX's commitment to innovation and market depth, complementing existing thematic benchmark indices such as the FTSE ADX ESG Screened and FTSE ADX 15 Islamic, which together offer investors diversification and performance benchmarking across multiple interesting investment themes.

Abdulla Salem Alnuaimi, group chief executive officer of the ADX Group, said: "The FTSE ADX Dividend Stars Index opens a new avenue for investors seeking stable and growing income, backed by Abu Dhabi's solid and resilient capital market. With a transparent, data-driven benchmark that tracks companies with strong dividend profiles, the index enhances liquidity, elevates issuer visibility, and strengthens investor confidence in our strong and dynamic capital market. This innovative index further reinforces our pivotal role in Abu Dhabi's economic growth by attracting capital, supporting company expansion, and empowering our investment community to participate in the emirate's ongoing success."

Gerald Toledano, global head of equities and multi assets at FTSE Russell, an LSEG business, said: "Our partnership with ADX continues to expand investor access to transparent, rules-based benchmarks that reflect the region's growth and maturity. The new FTSE ADX Dividend Stars Index provides a robust framework for tracking higher dividend performance, supporting both income-seeking investors and Abu Dhabi's vibrant capital market."

Over the past five years, investors on the ADX have reaped the rewards as listed companies paid out more than 320 billion dirhams in cash dividends from 2020 - a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost 33 per cent. The ADX has more than doubled its market capitalization over the same period and has been the best-performing market in the region, outperforming the FTSE Emerging Markets Index over the past five years, a testament to the exchange's consistent growth and resilient fundamentals.

The index employs the FTSE Target Diversification method, which introduces an innovative and flexible approach to address index diversification and concentration.

This flexibility allows the index to easily adjust stock concentrations, ensuring quality and balance while reducing volatility and providing steady income from high dividend-paying stocks.

Khaleej Times