Dividends are making a comeback across a range of sectors after drying up in the last couple of years as companies tried to conserve cash. 

Mining giant Anglo American became the latest group to reintroduce its dividend after a two-year break on Friday. Its better-than-expected first-half results led it to reward shareholders with an interim payment of 25 cents a share.

Although this is down on previous interim payments, the FTSE 100 heavyweight is planning on adopting a progressive dividend policy as market conditions pick up.

Rising profits also led builders' merchant Travis Perkins to start paying out dividends after cancelling payouts back in February 2009 as it battened down the hatches in the recession.

It beat expectations with a 24 per cent rise in underlying pre-tax profit to £111.8 million for the six months to 30 June and said second-half trading had got off to a good start. Shareholders are set to benefit from a turnaround in its fortunes with a 5p-a-share payout.

Drinks can maker Rexam also followed suit by reinstating its first-half dividend after scrapping it last year despite remaining cautious in its outlook.

Shareholders will receive 4p a share on 5 October following the group's expectation-beating results. It notched up pre-tax profits of £144 million after suffering losses of £30 million last year.

Earlier this week, British American Tobacco celebrated a better-than-expected start to the year by raising its dividend by more than a fifth. And yesterday Rolls-Royce announced a dividend increase of 6.7 per cent as it reported an underlying rise in profits of 4 per cent to £465 million in the six months to the end of June.

Meanwhile, troubled transport group National Express says it expects to start paying dividends again next year after swinging back into profit in the first half of the year.

The reappearance of the dividend is part of a growing trend. In the first half of the year the number of companies increasing or reinstating their dividends rose to 189.

Cyclical firms are leading the recovery, increasing their dividend much more quickly than defensive stocks.

In contrast, less than 100 firms took an axe to their payouts with BP the most high profile of the dividend slashers.

Its decision to suspend its dividend is set to cost shareholders £5.4 billion over nine months, according to the recently released Dividend Monitor from Capita Registrars. The troubled oil giant was the UK's biggest dividend payer before the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster sent it plummeting to a record $17 billion loss for the second quarter.

In the first half of the year, UK-listed companies paid out £28.6 billion, down from £30.3 billion last year.

Blue chip shareholders were left in limbo as overall payouts from FTSE 100 companies fell 8 per cent to £25.2 billion in the first half of the year. However, mid-caps put in a much stronger performance with the FTSE 250 seeing a 24 per cent rise in payouts.

Overall, 39 more companies paid a dividend in the first half of 2010 than in the first six months of 2009.