* Dividends seen rising just 0.8 pct - Henderson
* Oil price fall, stronger dollar to weigh on index
* Equity returns outstrip benchmark bond yields
LONDON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A record-breaking year fordividends in 2014 is unlikely to be followed by much growth thisyear as a slump in oil prices and a surging U.S. dollar cast ashadow over payouts from energy and emerging markets companies,a new report has said.
Asset-manager Henderson Global Investors said on Monday itexpected global dividends to rise by 0.8 percent to $1.18trillion in 2015, a big drop from last year's 10.5 percent butstill an increase at a time when returns on stocks in Europe arestrongly outstripping benchmark bond yields.
The energy sector is the second-biggest dividend-payingindustry and there are question marks over its ability to keepgushing cash, the report said, though it specified the riskswere higher for emerging-markets companies than for big energymajors such as Royal Dutch Shell or Total.
Africa-focused oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil lastweek reported its first loss in 15 years and became one of theonly companies in the sector to sacrifice its dividend to dealwith a sharp decline in oil prices.
The resurgent U.S. dollar is also set to weigh on dividends-- Henderson's index is dollar-denominated -- after a year inwhich the United States was the main engine of global dividendgrowth. Emerging-markets dividends fell in 2014 and Russia'srouble crisis will eat into payouts in 2015, Henderson said.
Company sector payout power is also beginning to diverge, ata time when volatility in other markets is playing havoc withestimates of future profits. Technology companies and firmsfocused on discretionary consumption grew dividends atdouble-digit percentage rates last year, while utilities andmining industries saw payouts fall.
Financial companies, however, are making a comeback: SwissRe, Banco Santander and Raiffeisen Bank are among the top 10 dividend-yielding stocks inEurope -- though some of these are mainly due to share pricefalls -- while UBS has trebled its dividend and ING has announced its first payout since the crisis. (Reporting by Lionel Laurent; Editing by Mark Potter)
