FTSE 100 constituents have been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic with large swathes of London’s leading index having to cut, or completely scrap, their dividends.

As a result of the economic fallout caused by coronavirus, dividend favourites such as oil majors BP and Shell have had to reduce their holy grail dividends and the UK’s banks were ordered to cease payouts by the Bank of England.

With investors suddenly finding many shares yielding a lot less than they once did, we look at two companies with dividend payment that should prove to be more resilient than their FTSE 100 peers.

Pennon Group

Utilities companies, in particular water companies, are viewed by some as the ultimate defence sector.

The demand for their services is highly inelastic so cash flows can be relied upon, reducing the risk of shock dividend cuts. This is supported by steady revenue growth that tends to rise in line with inflation.

Pennon, one of the recent addition’s to the FTSE 100, illustrated this in their full year results with revenue from continuing operations in 2020 increasing to £636.7m from £632.6m.

In addition to steady revenue from ongoing operations, Pennon is set to receive £3.7 billion in cash from the sale of their waste management and recycling business, Viridor, to KKR.

Pennon have said some of the cash will go to paying down debt and bolstering the pension scheme, with plenty left over for further investment in growth, and potentially retuning proceeds to shareholders.

This means the ordinary dividend is not only safe, but there is the possibility of a special dividend, if the Pennon board do not find suitable investment opportunities.

The Pennon ordinary dividend increased 6.6% to 43.77p, equivalent to a 4% yield with shares trading at 4%.

AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca has long promoted their progressive dividend policy and have stayed the course throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

In their recent trading update, the board announced an interim dividend of 90 cent, meaning the pharmaceutical company currently has a yield of 2.6%.

A 2.6% yield will not set the world on fire for most investors in FTSE 100 shares, but confidence in the ability to maintain this payment should take precedence in the current environment.

AstraZeneca’s Core EPS grew by 24% to $2.01 in the second half highlighting strong coverage of the dividend by earnings.

Not only does AstraZeneca provide an attractive income prospect, their pipeline of drugs presents a significant opportunity for capital appreciation.

With treatments such as Lung Cancer drug Tagrisso producing a 43% increases in revenue, the growth story is as compelling as the income proposition.

AstraZeneca, one the FTSE 100 top performers in 2020, is scheduled to go ex-dividend 13th August 2020 with the dividend paid 14th September.