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* Q3 dividends down q/q for first time since 2008
* Full year dividend payouts to miss 2012 record
* Vodafone will boost next year's total above 100 bln stg
LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - British companies posted lowerthan expected dividend growth in the third quarter, with totalpayouts for the year now set to be below 2012's record level, astudy showed on Monday.
However a one-off windfall from Vodafone's specialdividend, following the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless toVerizon, should see the 2014 total top 100 billion pounds($161.48 billion) for the first time since Capita Asset Servicesconducted its dividend monitor.
While the 25.3 billion pound payout in July to Septemberrepresented a 5.7 percent increase year on year, dividendsactually fell compared to the previous quarter for the firsttime in five years.
"We have been warning for some time that dividend growthwould slow down. That slowdown has been greater than we expectedon an underlying basis, and reflects a very soft patch incompany profitability over the last year," Justin Cooper, CEO ofshareholder solutions, Capita Asset Services, said.
Dividends have become increasingly sought after as globalmonetary easing has helped keep yields on bonds low, forcinginvestors to look for other streams of dependable income.
Equities are still set to have a yield of 4.1 percent overthe next 12 months, ahead of all other major asset classes.
This attractive yield does not even take into account abumper dividend from Vodafone, which is set to boost prospectsfor payouts to shareholders next year with an unprecedented 16.6billion pound (gross) special dividend.
The payout boosts Capita Asset Services' forecast for 2014to 101.8 billion pounds.
Even without the one-off dividend, improving profitabilitymeans 2014's total is set to beat the current record of 80.6billion pounds, set in 2012, which this year's dividends are setto miss by 900 million pounds.
