If you have gone to your local kopitiam and ordered a cup of kopi lately, you already know the story – cash simply doesn’t stretch as far or earn as much as it did a year ago.
HRnetGroup Limited (SGX: CHZ), Credit Bureau Asia Limited (SGX: TCU) and VICOM Ltd (SGX: WJP) all reported lower interest income for the first half of 2026 (1H2026).
Yet, all three still managed to raise their interim dividends.
How? None of them carry bank borrowings, excluding lease liabilities.
That pristine net-cash position gives each board plenty of elbow room to reward shareholders.
But a rising payout still needs an underlying business that can actually afford it.
Free cash flow is the ultimate lifeblood of any payout, so let’s check each company’s cash flow against its latest dividend bump.
At a Glance
| Stock (Ticker) | Net Cash / Cash Holdings | 1H2026 Interim Dividend | Dividend Growth (YoY) | Free Cash Flow |
| VICOM Ltd (SGX: WJP) | S$53 million cash(S$33.3 million lease liabilities) | S$0.0395 | +27.4% | S$14.7 million (+145%) |
| HRnetGroup Limited (SGX: CHZ) | S$332.1 million (cash, T-bills, gold) | S$0.022 | +10% | S$17.4 million (-34.3%) |
| Credit Bureau Asia Limited(SGX: TCU) | S$49.6 million cash + S$2.2 million financial assets | S$0.022 | +10% | S$13.3 million (+4.6%) |
Can VICOM keep raising its dividend as its ERP 2.0 work winds down?
VICOM, a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro Corporation (SGX: C52), runs vehicle inspection and non-vehicle testing services.
It ended June 2026 with S$53 million in cash and zero bank borrowings, against lease liabilities of S$33.3 million.
Of the trio, VICOM makes the most straightforward dividend case.
Its interim dividend rose 27.4% year on year (YoY) to S$0.0395 per share.
Earnings per share (EPS) climbed from S$0.0439 to S$0.0561.
Simply put, the dividend grew in step with profit.
Revenue rose 6.4% to S$74.3 million, while operating costs fell 1.2% as subcontractor fees for the ERP 2.0 On-Board Unit (OBU) project dropped 44.2%.
Interest income also halved to S$0.4 million.
Profit attributable to shareholders climbed 28% to S$19.9 million.
The cash followed the profit, too.
Operating cash flow rose 65.1% to S$31.8 million – easily covering S$17.2 million of capital expenditure.
Free cash flow more than doubled to S$14.7 million, up from S$6 million previously.
Management expects a softer second half.
It sees steady demand from electronics and precision engineering, but more uncertainty in oil & gas because of the Middle East conflict.
OBU installations will taper off before the project ends in December 2026.
How far can HRnetGroup’s cash carry its dividend through a hiring slowdown?
HRnetGroup runs recruitment and staffing businesses across 19 Asian cities.
As at 30 June 2026, it held S$332.1 million in cash, treasury bills and gold, with no borrowings.
No other company on this list comes close to that war chest.
With that backing, the board bumped up the interim dividend by 10% YoY to S$0.022 per share.
The core business did its job.
Revenue slipped just 1.1% to S$292.2 million (remaining flat in constant-currency terms), while gross profit grew 1.5% to S$62.1 million.
Operating expenses fell 1.9%, which lifted operating profit by 9.4% to S$20.1 million.
Other income moved the other way.
It fell 65.5% to S$5.4 million as government subsidies and interest income shrank, and HRnetGroup’s investments swung to a fair value loss.
Free cash flow dropped 34.3% to S$17.4 million, down from S$26.5 million a year earlier.
Management expects cyclical headwinds to persist, though the team is actively building recurring income through platforms like Octomate, YesPay! and Doudou.
This is where the cash buffer matters.
It gives the board room to keep paying through a downturn, though free cash flow is the key metric we’ll want to watch closely next time.
Why is Credit Bureau Asia’s dividend growing faster than its profit?
Credit Bureau Asia (CBA) supplies credit and risk information in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar.
As at 30 June 2026, it held S$49.6 million in cash and bank balances, plus S$2.2 million in financial assets.
It carries zero bank debt, with lease liabilities standing at S$4.7 million.
Its cash balance looks lower than a year ago, but for good reason: CBA completed a capital reduction on 26 June 2026, returning S$0.09 per share (roughly S$20.7 million) to shareholders.
That was a one-off capital return, completely separate from the ordinary dividend.
Its ordinary interim dividend rose 10% to S$0.022 per share (up from S$0.02), paid out on 28 August 2026.
Revenue rose 2.7% YoY to S$31 million, and free cash flow grew 4.6% to S$13.3 million.
Group profit also rose 3.6% to S$13.3 million.
Shareholders saw much less of that growth.
Profit attributable to them grew just 1.5% to S$5.5 million.
Where did the rest go? CBA runs its credit bureaux for financial institutions through joint ventures, and minority partners take a large share of the profit.
As a result, the dividend is currently growing faster than the net profit that actually belongs to equity holders.
Looking ahead, management sees Cambodia recovering, Myanmar improving, and remains cautiously optimistic about the rest of FY2026.
Get Smart: Check what the cash is worth to you
A net-cash figure gives you a great snapshot of what a company holds today, but it won’t tell you how comfortable next year’s dividend will feel.
Start with lease liabilities.
VICOM’s S$33.3 million in leases takes a far bigger bite out of its S$53 million cash pool than CBA’s S$4.7 million does relative to its stash.
Next, make sure you compare dividend payouts against the profit and cash flow that belong specifically to shareholders, rather than looking at group totals alone – CBA shows how group numbers can easily flatter the headline picture.
With interest income shrinking across the board, ask yourself one simple question every earnings season: Can the business alone cover your dividend?
For VICOM, this half, the answer is a clear yes.
Its EPS of S$0.0561 sits well above the S$0.0395 interim dividend.
For HRnetGroup and CBA, you’ll need the next set of results to answer with confidence.
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Disclosure: Calvina L. does not own any stocks mentioned. Chin Hui Leong contributed to this article and owns shares of VICOM, HRnetGroup and CBA.
