There are a handful of ASX dividend shares that have grown their dividend every year back to the GFC.
Indeed, a couple of businesses have actually increased their dividend going back before the GFC. Those are long-term dividend records.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (ASX: SOL)
Soul Patts is the ASX dividend share with the longest growth record.
The investment conglomerate has grown its dividend every year since 2000. It was first listed in 1903 over a century ago and it has paid a dividend every year since then.
Soul Patts has a diversified portfolio of assets to generate earnings and growth.
Listed investments include TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG), Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW), New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC), Bki Investment Co Ltd (ASX: BKI), Milton Corporation Limited (ASX: MLT), Pengana International Equities Ltd (ASX: PIA), Pengana Capital Group Ltd (ASX: PCG), Palla Pharma Ltd (ASX: PAL), Clover Corporation Limited (ASX: CLV) and Tuas Ltd (ASX: TUA).
It also has a portfolio of unlisted businesses and assets such as resources (Round Oak), swimming schools, financial services and agriculture.
Each year, Soul Patts' portfolio produces profit and sends cashflow in the form of dividends and distributions to the parent business. After paying for the expenses to run the company, Soul Patts can then pay out a sizeable amount of its net cashflow to shareholders as a dividend.
One of the newest investment focuses of the ASX dividend share is luxury retirement living.
At the current Soul Patts share price, it has a grossed-up dividend yield of 2.8%.
APA Group (ASX: APA)
APA is another business that has been growing its distribution for many years – more than a decade and a half.
It's one of Australia's largest infrastructure businesses, with a focus on energy. It owns a huge pipeline network to transport gas around the country.
APA also owns gas infrastructure like storage and energy generation. It also owns some renewable energy assets.
The ASX dividend share pays its growing distribution from the cashflow that it generates.
New projects can help unlock even more cashflow. In recent months the business has announced expansions of its gas pipeline networks.
On the east coast it just announced that it's expanding the winter peak capacity by 25% for the delivery of gas from Queensland and the Northern Territory to southern markets for a cost of around $260 million.
In Western Australia it is going to invest up to $460 million to construct a new 580km pipeline to connect emerging gas fields in the Perth Basin to the resource rich Goldfields region, forming an interconnected WA Gas Grid.
At the current APA share price, it offers a distribution yield of 5.4%.
