There are a few S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) that keep increasing their dividend to shareholders every year.
Not many businesses in the ASX 200 have grown their dividend consistently over the last several years. The COVID-19 year of 2020 alone saw many dividend records come to an end.
But not for these two ASX 200 shares, which just announced further dividend increases:
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)
Soul Patts reported its FY21 half-year result today, it announced a 4% increase of the interim dividend to 26 cents.
The investment conglomerate reported that its diversified portfolio showed resilience against market volatility.
It's the only company in the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries (ASX: XAO) to have increased the dividend every year for the past 20 years. It also boasts that its total shareholder return over the past two decades has been 1,189%, outperforming the market by 5.6% per annum over the last 20 years.
The ASX 200 dividend share continues to make new investment to diversify its portfolio. For example, it just gained exposure to kiwi fruit farming in Western Australian thanks to an acquisition.
A key highlights for the Soul Patts business was the performance of Round Oak Minerals which is benefiting from strong commodity prices such as copper.
Soul Patts managing director Todd Barlow said:
WHSP maintained good cash generating across the portfolio throughout the period impacted by COVID-19. Cash generation from the portfolio continues to be strong and supports our ambitions to maintain increasing dividends over time.
We continue to have liquidity available for new investments and have a strong pipeline of opportunities which we believe will deliver superior risk adjusted returns.
At the current Soul Patts share price, it has a grossed-up dividend yield of 2.7%.
Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW)
Brickworks is a diversified property business which has buildings product divisions in both Australia and the US.
Today's result showed that the Australian division is performing strongly, whilst there are signs of higher demand in the US.
The Brickworks board decided to increase the dividend by 5% to 21 cents.
It is the other two asset groups that funds Brickworks continually growing dividend. During the period, Soul Patts paid $33 million of dividends to Brickworks – an increase of 3%. The defensive portfolio of Soul Patts is expected to continue to generate growing earnings and dividends to Brickworks.
Brickworks also owns a 50% ownership of a good industrial property trust, which saw net trust income increase by 7% to $16 million thanks to rent reviews and additional developments. It also benefited from a $40 million revaluation profit on the value of the properties.
The ASX 200 share hasn't cut its dividend for 45 years. It currently offers a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.3%.
Brickworks is expecting that the completion of facilities being constructed in its property trust over the next two years will lead to a significant uplift in rental income and the asset value.
