Capita: UK dividends set for record year after ending 2013 'with a whimper'

Capita Asset Services is predicting a record year for UK dividends in 2014, despite a lacklustre period for dividend returns last year.

In 2013 headline dividends dropped 1% to £79.8bn, according to the latest UK Dividend Monitor, the first decline since 2010. The report attributes the decline to a sharp drop in special dividends over the year, which fell from £7bn in 2012 to £2.4bn in 2013 as big payments from Cairn Energy and Vodafone were not repeated. However, the new year will see an ‘unprecedented' £16.6bn dividend from Vodafone, which will be the largest single payment in UK corporate history, Capita said. It is therefore forecasting dividends to hit £101.1bn this year, which will ‘smash' the previous record...