Bunzl Plc (LSE: BNZL) is drawing attention from income-focused investors as dividend forecasts across the FTSE 100 face potential pressure from ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainty.
The Middle East crisis continues to weigh on sentiment, with soaring energy prices threatening company earnings, inflation, and broader economic growth across major markets.
For investors relying on dividends to fund retirement, or those reinvesting income for portfolio growth, the stakes around dividend stability have rarely felt higher.
Bunzl stands out in this environment, having delivered 33 consecutive years of dividend growth, a record that places it among the most dependable income stocks in the FTSE 100.
For 2026, Bunzl carries a dividend yield of 3.2%, fractionally above the FTSE 100 average, with analysts forecasting that figure to rise to 3.3% by 2027.
The company’s resilience is rooted in its highly defensive business model, supplying everyday products including food packaging, medical gloves, cleaning supplies, and industrial safety gear to customers across the globe.
That focus on essential goods provides excellent earnings visibility and robust cash flows, both critical ingredients for sustaining a long-term dividend record.
Bunzl’s cash generation also underpins an acquisition-based growth strategy that has driven consistent long-term earnings expansion over more than two decades.
Chief financial officer Richard Howes noted the scale of that effort, saying: “Since 2004, Bunzl has committed £6.2bn in acquisitions to support a growth strategy that has delivered an annual adjusted earnings per share CAGR of c.9%, and has also returned £3.1bn to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.”
Over the last 22 years, the company has completed 230 acquisitions as part of that strategy, underscoring the disciplined and consistent approach to capital deployment.
The company is not without near-term challenges, facing rare pressure in North America, its single largest market, where both sales and margins have declined in recent periods.
Inflationary conditions could keep the operating environment in North America difficult, and that remains a risk investors should weigh carefully before taking a position.
Despite those headwinds, dividend cover for the next two years is forecast at between 1.9 and 2 times earnings, broadly in line with the two times threshold that income investors typically look for as a sign of security.
Bunzl’s balance sheet adds further reassurance, with the company’s net debt to EBITDA ratio falling at the bottom of its own target range of 2 to 2.5 times, reflecting financial discipline and flexibility.
That combination of resilient cash flows, a strong balance sheet, and consistent acquisition-led growth makes Bunzl a compelling case for investors seeking dependable passive income from FTSE 100 shares.