Record £23bn paid out in dividends in third quarter

Investors in UK stock market listed companies enjoyed a record £23.2bn total dividend payouts in the third quarter.

Capita's quarterly dividend monitor reveals that the payout is up 10.4 per cent on last year, although underlying growth has started to slow.

The figures suggest that companies are either sitting on cash or paying it out as dividends rather than investing it. That will add to concern that the reluctance of companies to invest is derailing the recovery.

Capita found that for the first nine months of the year the combined dividend payout of all UK companies stood at £64.6bn, up 17.1 per cent on 2011.

Capita has upgraded its forecast for the final 2012 payout by £300m to £78.6bn, representing a prospective yield on the UK stock market of 4.3 per cent.