Extra dividends feel like a year-end bonus.
While you should welcome them, you shouldn’t just build your budget around them.
Three SGX-listed names with Temasek as a major shareholder are rewarding investors, or plan to, with payouts on top of their usual dividends.
Here is how much of each company Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore, owns.
| Company | Ticker | Temasek’s stake | As at |
|---|---|---|---|
| DBS Group Holdings Ltd | SGX: D05 | 28% | 31 March 2026 |
| Keppel Ltd | SGX: BN4 | 21% | 31 March 2026 |
| Keppel REIT | SGX: K71U | 38.5% (deemed interest) | 27 February 2026 |
A shared shareholder does not mean a shared source of cash.
Each of these companies funds its extra payout from a different pool.
As a dividend investor, your job is to look past the extra and ask whether the core business can keep the ordinary payout growing.
Can DBS keep growing its ordinary dividend?
DBS Group Holdings Ltd (SGX: D05) declared a total dividend of S$0.81 per share for the third quarter of 2026 (3Q2026).
The payout has two parts, and you should look at them separately.
The ordinary dividend came in at S$0.66, up from S$0.60 a year ago.
That works out to a 10% increase.
The capital return dividend stayed at S$0.15.
The ordinary dividend relies on recurring profit, and DBS has plenty of it.
For the first nine months of 2026 (9M2026), the bank reported a record net profit of S$8.8 billion, while return on equity (ROE) stood at 17%.
Lending kept growing too.
Customer loans rose 9.5% year on year (YoY) to S$478.6 billion.
The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio improved from 1.0% to 0.9%.
The latest quarter had soft spots.
Net interest margin narrowed from 1.96% to 1.87% as Singapore interest rates fell.
Markets trading non-interest income dropped to S$17 million from S$419 million.
Net profit for 3Q 2026 fell 4.8% YoY to S$2.8 billion.
For 2027, management expects total income growth in the mid-single-digit range.
The CEO also cautioned that elevated energy prices and geopolitical risks have made the outlook more uncertain.
What is funding Keppel REIT’s extra distributions?
Although Keppel REIT (SGX: K71U) did not report a distribution per unit (DPU) for 9M2026, its distributable income provides a better read.
Distributable income from operations grew 24.4% YoY to S$179.9 million.
That figure leaves out a S$15 million Anniversary Distribution.
Once you add it back, distributable income reached S$194.9 million.
A second one-off is on the way.
The REIT will return S$15 million of divestment proceeds to unitholders in three semi-annual tranches from the second half of 2027.
Up to S$25 million of sale proceeds will also go towards unit buybacks.
The portfolio underneath looks steady.
Committed occupancy was 96% as at 30 September 2026, and rental reversion for 9M2026 came in at a positive 12%.
Keep a few caveats in mind.
Aggregate leverage stood at 40.5% as at 30 September 2026.
Keppel REIT plans to buy a 51.0% stake in Keppel South Central, a deal with 2.01% pro forma DPU accretion.
The deal comes with income support from Keppel Ltd (SGX: BN4) of S$2.23 million a month for up to five years.
New office supply in Singapore also picks up in 2028.
Will Keppel’s special dividend arrive?
Keppel Ltd has not declared a special dividend yet.
The company aims to pay out 10% to 15% of realised proceeds from its asset monetisation programme as special dividends for FY2026.
So far this year, Keppel has completed and realised about S$940 million of asset monetisation.
It targets about S$600 million more by end-2026 from its first six legacy rigs.
Selling assets can fund a one-off payout, but it cannot fund a payout that grows every year.
For that, you need to look at the core business.
Net profit at “the New Keppel” grew more than 20% YoY in 9M2026.
This measure excludes the non-core portfolio for divestment and discontinued operations.
Asset management fees rose 18% to S$354 million over the same period, and recurring income climbed more than 10%.
The wider picture is messier.
Once you include non-core assets, 9M2026 net profit fell 40% YoY, mainly because of impairments and holding costs.
The business update also gave no cash, debt or free cash flow figures.
Until those numbers arrive, you cannot judge how well cash covers the payout.
Get Smart: Price the extra at zero
Before you buy a stock for its special dividend, try one simple exercise.
Set the one-off payout to zero and then ask yourself whether the ordinary dividend alone still makes the stock worth owning.
DBS gives you a rising ordinary dividend to answer that question.
Keppel REIT and Keppel will need their next full-year results to give you the same confidence.
If your answer is no, the special dividend is doing too much of the work.
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Disclosure: The Smart Investor owns shares in DBS.
