It always feels good to receive a dividend.
This money goes directly into your bank account and acts as a passive income stream that can sustain you through your retirement.
Although many companies pay out a dividend, you must look for consistency.
Consistency involves studying the business’s history and its historical dividend payments to determine if they are dependable.
A period of five years, which includes the onset of the pandemic, is sufficient to give you an idea as to whether a business can reliably dole out dividends.
We highlight four Singapore stocks that were able to pay out a consistent dividend in the last five years.
PropNex (SGX: OYY)
PropNex is an integrated real estate services group with 11,902 sales professionals as of 17 February 2023.
The group offers services such as real estate brokerage, training, property management and consultancy.
PropNex reported a respectable set of earnings for 2022 despite the government’s imposition of property cooling measures back in September last year.
Revenue increased by 7.5% year on year to S$1.03 billion while net profit inched up 0.3% year on year to S$65.4 million.
The real estate specialist proposed a final dividend of S$0.08, with total dividends for the year coming in at S$0.135.
This level of dividends was higher than 2021’s total dividend of S$0.125.
For 2018 and 2019, PropNex paid out a total dividend of S$0.035 for each of these years, before hiking its dividend to S$0.055 in 2020.
From this track record, it’s clear that the group has been consistently increasing its dividend from 2018 till 2022.
What’s more, PropNex has also announced a 1-for-1 bonus issue to broaden the group’s shareholder base.
Around 40 housing projects may be launched this year, injecting around 12,000 new units into the market.
Private home prices are still projected to rise by 5% to 6%, opening up opportunities for PropNex to increase its revenue and profits.
Old Chang Kee (SGX: 5ML)
Old Chang Kee will be well-known to the locals for its wide range of delectable fried snacks such as curry puffs, spring rolls, and chicken wings.
However, not many may be aware that the group is also a consistent payer of dividends.
For its fiscal 2022 (FY2022) ending 31 March 2022, Old Chang Kee paid out a total dividend of S$0.02, higher than the S$0.015 paid out in FY2021.
For FY2020, a total dividend of S$0.015 was also paid out despite net profit for that year plunging by 80.4% year on year.
Before the onset of the pandemic, Old Chang Kee had paid out an annual dividend of S$0.03 for each of the fiscal years FY2018 and FY2019.
With the slight increase in the dividend for FY2022, it seems Old Chang Kee may be on track to slowly restore its dividend over time.
For 1H FY2023 ending 30 September 2022, net profit fell by 22% year on year to S$2.6 million.
But if government grants and job support are excluded, the group would have reported a net profit of S$2.5 million against a small net loss of S$58,000 in 1H FY2022.
Micro-Mechanics (Holdings) (SGX: 5DD)
Micro-Mechanics, or MMH, designs and manufactures high-precision tools and parts used in the wafer fabrication and assembly processes within the semiconductor industry.
The group has a stellar track record of paying out a dividend every single year since its IPO back in FY2003 (the group has a 30 June year-end).
For FY2018 and FY2019, MMH paid an annual dividend of S$0.10 each.
Its total dividend was raised to S$0.12 in FY2020 and subsequently increased to S$0.14 for both FY2021 and FY2022.
For 1H FY2023, MMH saw its revenue dip 9.6% year on year to S$36.9 million while net profit slid 35.5% year on year to S$6.1 million.
Despite the weaker results, MMH still maintained its interim dividend of S$0.06.
CSE Global Ltd (SGX: 544)
CSE Global provides integrated systems and possesses engineering capabilities that can deliver complex, large-scale projects.
The group has a presence across 16 countries and employs more than 1,800 staff globally.
CSE Global has been consistently paying out an annual dividend of S$0.0275 over the past five years (i.e. 2018 to 2022).
The group was able to maintain its dividend despite 2022’s net profit plunging by 68.2% year on year to S$4.8 million.
The silver lining is that new orders received by the engineering group shot up 74.9% year on year to S$808.4 million.
As a result, its outstanding order book more than doubled year on year from S$229.4 million to S$480.1 million.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of Micro-Mechanics.
