Everyone loves receiving dividends.
And it’s even better if these dividends increase over time.
The COVID-19 pandemic has, however, thrown a huge curveball at a wide swath of companies.
Despite the difficult conditions, there has been a surprising number of companies that still managed to not just post a higher year on year profit, but have also increased their dividends in tandem.
Here are five companies that raised their dividends.
Riverstone Holdings Limited (SGX: AP4)
Riverstone is a manufacturer of nitrile and natural rubber cleanroom gloves used for the healthcare and semiconductor industries, respectively.
Demand has soared for nitrile gloves due to the pandemic, with Riverstone reporting a record set of earnings for its fiscal year 2020 (FY 2020).
Revenue surged 85% year on year to RM 1.8 billion, while net profit soared almost five-hold from RM 130.4 million to RM 647.3 million.
A final dividend of RM 16 sen and a special dividend of RM 4 sen were declared, bringing total dividends for FY 2020 to RM 22 sen.
This level of dividends was around six times more than the RM 3.7 sen declared in the fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019).
The group is scaling up its production capacity to 15 billion pieces per annum by end-2023 to cope with the increased demand.
Food Empire Holdings Limited (SGX: F03)
Food Empire is a company in the food and beverage industry that manufactures instant beverage products as well as frozen convenience and snack foods.
Its products are exported to over 50 countries including Russia and China and the group operates seven manufacturing facilities.
For FY 2020, revenue dipped slightly by 5.4% year on year to US$273 million, largely due to lockdowns in various parts of the world due to the pandemic.
However, due to tighter cost control measures, Food Empire’s net profit inched up by 2.9% year on year to US$26.5 million.
A first and final dividend of S$0.022 was declared for FY 2020, 10% higher than the S$0.02 final cum special dividends declared in the prior year.
Sheng Siong Group Ltd (SGX: OV8)
Sheng Siong is one of the largest supermarket chains in Singapore and owns a chain of 63 outlets across the island.
With larger numbers of people telecommuting, the group has seen demand surge for its household products and fresh and chilled food.
For FY 2020, revenue jumped by 40.6% year on year to S$1.4 billion.
Net profit surged by nearly 84% year on year to S$139.1 million.
A final dividend of S$0.03 was declared, bringing the full-year dividend to S$0.065.
This represented an 83% year on year increase from FY 2019’s full-year dividend of S$0.0355.
Sheng Siong remains committed to expanding its network of stores in heartland areas to grow both its top and bottom line.
Propnex Ltd (SGX: OYY)
Propnex is Singapore’s largest real estate agency with over 9,000 sales professionals as of 22 February 2021.
The healthy demand in the private and public residential housing sector led to a strong set of earnings for the group.
Revenue for FY 2020 rose 22.8% year on year to S$515.6 million while net profit after tax surged by 47.8% year on year to S$31.2 million.
The group declared a final dividend of S$0.04 and dividends for the full-year amounted to S$0.055.
For FY 2019, the dividend per share totalled S$0.035.
The 57% year on year increase affirmed management’s commitment to reward shareholders when the group reports improved financial numbers.
AEM Holdings Ltd (SGX: AWX)
AEM offers solutions for the semiconductor and electronics companies serving advanced computing, 5G and artificial intelligence markets.
A sharp rise in demand has been witnessed for smartphones and digital devices, led by the digitalisation wave caused by the pandemic.
AEM is one of the beneficiaries of this trend, with the group reporting record profit for FY 2020.
Revenue jumped by 60.6% year on year to S$519 million and net profit soared 85% year on year to S$97.6 million.
A final dividend of S$0.04 was proposed, bringing FY 2020 dividend to S$0.09.
For FY 2019, the full-year dividend stood at S$0.051.
AEM had just completed the acquisition of CEI Limited (SGX: AVV), another electronics manufacturing firm, and intends to use it to boost the group’s regional footprint and prospects.
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Disclaimer: Royston Yang does not own shares in any of the companies mentioned.
