Tomorrow afternoon the Reserve Bank of Australia will meet for the first time this year and is widely expected to keep the cash rate on hold for yet another month.
In fact, according to the latest Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) Weekly economic report, Australia's oldest bank expects this to be the case throughout 2019 and also 2020.
If the bank's economists are correct, it could be many years before rates are back at normal levels again.
In light of this, I think that income investors ought to consider these generous dividend shares:
Accent Group Ltd (ASX: AX1)
Accent Group is a leading footwear group behind retail brands such as The Athlete's Foot, HYPE DC, and Platypus. Although there have been concerns that many retailers are struggling, Accent Group appears to have avoided this weakness. In fact, trading was stronger than expected in the first half, leading management to provide interim EBITDA growth guidance of between 15% and 20%. I believe this puts the Accent Group board in a position to increase its interim dividend meaningfully later this month. At present the company's shares offer investors a trailing fully franked 5.3% dividend.
Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD)
As the main gateway into Australia, I believe that Sydney Airport is well placed to benefit from the inbound and outbound tourism boom that the country continues to experience. I expect this to lead to solid earnings and dividend growth over the next few years, making Sydney Airport well worth considering. Sydney Airport's shares currently offer investors a trailing 5.7% dividend.
Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES)
Due to a recent pullback in its share price following a subdued trading update for its Kmart business, I think this conglomerate could be well worth considering. While Kmart's performance was a little disappointing, it is worth noting that it was up against a tough comparable period. In addition to this, it lost ~1% of its sales due to exiting the low margin DVD category. I think investors ought to look beyond this to its generous estimated 5.7% dividend and hefty cash balance which is likely to be used to fund earnings accretive acquisitions or capital management initiatives.
