Receiving a dividend always brings a smile to my face.
This flow of passive income is useful for augmenting your earned income and acts as a great source of cash flow during your retirement years.
Because dividends are so attractive, it is important to look for stocks that can continue to reliably pay them over years, if not decades.
Investors should, therefore, hunt around for stocks that can pay out dependable dividends that will guarantee you a good night’s sleep.
Here are four that should make it to your dividend buy watchlist.
DBS Group (SGX: D05)
DBS needs no introduction, being Singapore’s largest bank by market capitalisation.
The group has seen its business lifted by the rapid rise in global interest rates that lifted its net interest income (NII).
For the first quarter of 2024 (1Q 2024), DBS announced a record net profit of S$2.96 billion on the back of an 8% year-on-year rise in NII.
Net fee income also crossed S$1 billion for the first time.
An interim dividend of S$0.54 was declared for 1Q 2024, up from just S$0.38 a year ago.
The bank has been steadily increasing its dividend payout over the years, with the annualised dividend for 2024 looking to hit S$2.16 per share.
Temasek Holdings also owns a 29% stake in DBS Group, giving investors further assurance of the bank’s quality.
CEO Piyush Gupta gave an upbeat assessment for 2024.
He believes group NII will be modestly better than 2023 and net profit can come in higher than last year.
Boustead Singapore Limited (SGX: F9D)
Boustead Singapore Limited, or BSL, is a conglomerate with four core divisions – energy engineering, real estate, geospatial, and healthcare.
The group has a long track record of paying out dividends.
Since BSL resumed paying dividends in fiscal 2003, the group has paid out a dividend without fail for 21 consecutive years.
The conglomerate just released a strong set of earnings for fiscal 2024 (FY2024) ending 31 March 2024.
Revenue jumped 37% year on year to S$767.6 million while gross profit climbed 44% year on year to S$226.7 million.
Net profit, after adjusting for one-off items, doubled year on year to S$63.3 million.
The group upped its final dividend to S$0.04 for FY2024 from S$0.025 a year ago.
The business also saw a 24% year-on-year jump in its free cash flow, rising from S$74 million in FY2023 to S$91.8 million in FY2024.
BSL’s Geospatial division set a new record by breaking the S$200 million revenue mark and also reported a record-high deferred services backlog of S$129 million.
The group’s order book stood at around S$247 million as of 31 March 2024, with S$36 million of new engineering contracts clinched in early FY2025.
Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX: S68)
Singapore Exchange, or SGX, is Singapore’s only stock exchange operator.
The group has been a steady payer of dividends since fiscal 2003 and recently started paying out quarterly dividends to its shareholders.
The annual dividend has risen from just S$0.051 in FY2003 to S$0.0325 in FY2023.
Being the country’s sole exchange operator also allows the business to enjoy a natural monopoly.
For the first half of FY2024 (1H FY2024), SGX continued to see its business improve.
Revenue inched up 3.6% year on year to S$592.2 million with core net profit rising 6.2% year on year to S$251.4 million.
The bourse operator also generated a healthy positive free cash flow of S$230.2 million for the half-year, 41% higher than the S$163.1 million churned out a year ago.
The interim dividend declared and paid out was S$0.085, up S$0.005 from a year ago; and SGX’s annualised dividend stood at S$0.34.
Management is targeting a mid-single-digit increase in the group’s dividend per share in the medium term.
VICOM Ltd (SGX: WJP)
VICOM is a provider of inspection and technical testing services.
The group conducts more than 400,000 vehicle checks at its centres annually and also provides non-vehicular testing in fields such as mechanical, biochemical, and civil engineering.
VICOM has been paying dividends for more than a decade without fail, cementing itself as one of the dividend stalwarts on the local stock exchange.
The group has maintained its vehicle testing market share of 72% for 2023 and continues to be the main go-to point for vehicle inspections in Singapore.
The business saw revenue rise 3.3% year on year to S$111.9 million for 2023 while net profit increased by 5.4% year on year to S$27.6 million.
Free cash flow for the year increased by 14.5% year on year to S$18.9 million.
A final dividend of S$0.0275 was paid out for a 70% dividend payout ratio.
This ratio was reduced from 90% previously as the group had to expand its business with a major investment in a new test and inspection centre at Jalan Papan.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of DBS Group, Boustead Singapore, Singapore Exchange Limited, and VICOM Ltd.