Everyone desires a happy and idyllic retirement.
To achieve this, you need to not just work hard and save, but make your money work hard for you by investing it.
There are two main investment methods used to prepare yourself for retirement – growth and dividend investing.
Growth investing emphasizes the increase in the value of your investment portfolio through share price appreciation.
Dividend investing, on the other hand, focuses on a stream of dividends received as passive income that can sustain you through your golden years.
These two methods are not mutually exclusive though – it is possible to enjoy the best of both worlds.
We highlight four Singapore stocks with the potential to deliver both growth and dividends to help speed up your journey towards retirement.
iFAST Corporation Limited (SGX: AIY)
iFAST is a financial technology company operating a platform for the buying and selling of unit trusts, shares, and bonds.
The group saw a strong financial performance for the first half of 2023 (1H 2023).
Total revenue inched up 1.2% year on year to S$108.1 million but operating profit jumped 69.5% year on year to S$9.1 million because of the absence of an impairment loss from a year ago.
Net profit more than doubled year on year to S$6.6 million.
iFAST paid out its second interim dividend of S$0.011, unchanged from a year ago.
The fintech paid out a trailing 12-month dividend of S$0.048.
Its assets under administration grew by 8% year on year to S$18.8 billion as of 30 June 2023, with net inflows amounting to S$872 million for 1H 2023.
Looking ahead, iFAST expects to enjoy a sharp improvement in revenue and profitability in 2H 2023 as its ePension division in Hong Kong starts contributing.
For its digital bank division, the bank has received an encouraging response after launching its digital personal banking service back in April.
OCBC Ltd (SGX: O39)
OCBC needs no introduction, being Singapore’s second-largest bank by market capitalisation.
The lender reported a sparkling set of earnings for 1H 2023 as net profit climbed 38% year on year to S$3.6 billion.
Net interest margin (NIM) was sharply higher at 2.28% for 1H 2023 in tandem with rising global interest rates.
CEO Helen Wong believes that NIM can remain above 2.2% for 2023 as the US Federal Reserve has signalled its intention to hold rates high for longer and may even raise rates further to tame inflation.
OCBC also unveiled a refreshed strategy, logo, and tagline that aims to deliver an incremental increase of S$3 billion in revenue over three years.
The bank paid out an interim dividend of S$0.40, a 43% year-on-year hike compared to the S$0.28 paid out last year.
Keppel DC REIT (SGX: AJBU)
Keppel DC REIT is a data centre REIT with a portfolio of 23 data centres across nine countries.
Its assets under management stood at S$3.7 billion as of 30 June 2023.
The REIT has continued to report strong results for 1H 2023, with its distribution per unit (DPU) inching up to S$0.05051 on the back of a 3.6% year-on-year increase in gross revenue to S$140.5 million.
The REIT has no refinancing requirement for 2023 with the bulk of its debt expiring in 2026 and beyond.
It has also secured new and expansion contracts in Singapore, Ireland and the Netherlands, all with positive rental reversions.
In addition, more than half of its portfolio has leases with built-in rental escalation clauses.
Data centre demand looks set to remain firm, underpinned by investments in hyperscale, growth in consumer and corporate online activities, and the explosion in demand for generative artificial intelligence.
The REIT manager will engage in the pursuit of data centre acquisition opportunities to grow Keppel DC REIT’s asset base and DPU further.
Genting Singapore Ltd (SGX: G13)
Genting Singapore owns and operates the integrated resort (IR) at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).
The IR features six hotels, a casino, a Universal Studios Singapore (USS) theme park, and one of the largest aquariums in Southeast Asia, and boasts a variety of dining, retail, and entertainment options.
With the recovery in air travel and tourism, Genting Singapore saw its 1H 2023 revenue surge 63% year on year to S$1.1 billion.
Operating profit more than tripled year on year to S$350.8 million while net profit jumped from S$84.4 million to S$276.7 million.
The IR operator also hiked its interim dividend by 50% year on year to S$0.015.
There is a lot for investors to look forward to in the next 18 months.
Renovation work on The Forum began in May 2023 and will create a new 20,000-square-metre central lifestyle cluster with new upscale restaurants, speciality shops, and entertainment and concept stores.
Meanwhile, the construction of Minion Land in USS and the new Singapore Oceanarium are progressing well.
Next year, Genting Singapore targets to commence construction on a new Waterfront Building and the extension for Equarius Hotel once it receives government approvals.
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Disclosure: Royston Yang owns shares of iFAST Corporation and Keppel DC REIT.
