There are some shares within the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) that keep growing their dividends to investors.
Here are three examples:
Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX: SHL)
This ASX 200 dividend share has increased its income payment to shareholders every year for around a decade.
If you're not sure what Sonic does, it's a global pathology business which is currently involved in the fight against COVID-19. It's one of the companies that is doing millions of tests.
Despite the terrible impacts that COVID-19 is having on the northern hemisphere, Sonic is actually seeing a return to growth for its core pathology business in many of the European countries that it operates. The US and UK were still struggling in the last update.
However, whilst core pathology is doing fairly well, the COVID-19 testing said that business is going gangbusters.
In the first quarter of FY21, revenue went up 29% and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew by 71%. At its annual general meeting (AGM) update, Sonic said that October 2020 revenue was around 33% higher than October 2019. The base business was showing less impact than the first waves and COVID-19 testing was at record highs.
Sonic currently has a trailing partially franked dividend yield of 2.4%.
APA Group (ASX: APA)
This is an ASX 200 share with one of the longest growth records with its distribution, going back around a decade and a half.
APA owns a large network of 15,000km of natural gas pipelines around Australia with a presence in every mainland state and the Northern Territory. It also owns or has interests in gas storage facilities, gas-fired power stations and renewable energy generation (wind and solar farms). APA owns, or manages and operates, a portfolio of assets and delivers half the nation's natural gas usage.
The business recently announced a 4.3% increase for its FY21 interim distribution to 23 cents per security. That brings the rolling 12-month distribution to 51 cents per security, which equates to a distribution yield of 5.25%.
The ASX 200 share funds its distribution from its operating cashflows each year.
It regularly announces new projects that could increase the profit and operating cashflow over time.
A couple of months ago, APA announced it was investing up to $460 million to building a new 580km pipeline in WA to connect emerging gas fields in the Perth Basin to the resource rich Goldfields region, forming an interconnected WA gas grid. It's expected to be operational by the middle of the 2022 calendar year.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)
This business has the longest-running dividend growth streak on the ASX, going all the way back to 2000.
Another dividend achievement by Soul Patts is that it has paid a dividend every year going back to 1903 when it first listed in Australia, including through wars, recessions and the Spanish Flu.
It operates as an investment conglomerate. This means it takes investment stakes in other businesses. The ASX 200 share has a listed portfolio of businesses like TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG), Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW), New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).
The business also has an unlisted portfolio of businesses in sectors like resources, swimming schools, financial services, agriculture and luxury retirement living communities. Some of the specific names of private businesses that it has stakes in include Ampcontrol, Dimeo, Verdant Minerals and Seven Miles.
At the current Soul Patts share price, it has a grossed-up dividend yield of 3.1%.
