It is almost the start of a new year: 2022. I think there could be some very useful ASX dividend shares to consider for income over the long-term.
I’m not talking about companies where the dividend can be very volatile, such as from Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL).
I am thinking about businesses that are delivering income reliability and growth for investors.
MFF Capital Investments Ltd (ASX: MFF)
MFF Capital is one of the biggest listed investment companies (LICs). It is managed to by the astute Chris Mackay, who actually owns hundreds of millions of dollars of MFF shares, so he is very aligned to the outcome of how MFF performs.
One of the most attractive things about MFF is that it can take a very wide look at the global share market to find opportunities. Whether that’s in the Americas, Europe, Asia or even on the ASX. If MFF thinks that an investment is good value with long-term potential, then it can choose to make that investment.
At the last disclosure, some of the positions in the ASX dividend share’s portfolio with a weighting of more than 1% included: Visa, Mastercard, Home Depot, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta Platforms/Facebook, Microsoft, CVS Health, Asahi Group, CK Hutchison, Intercontinental Exchange, Flutter Entertainment and Allianz. Quite a diverse group.
MFF has been growing its annual dividend for a few years now and has plans to grow the annual dividend to 10 cents per share over the next year or two. That would translate to a dividend yield of 5% including the franking credits.
Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL)
I think that WHSP is the best ASX dividend share when it comes to reliability and long-term growth.
A key part of the investment house’s attractiveness is that it has a diversified portfolio of defensive assets and businesses. Diversification lowers the risk that the business is too negatively impacted during downturns. It also allows the company to look for opportunities in any sector, with listed or private businesses.
Some of its biggest holdings includes names like Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW), TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG) and New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC). These businesses provide dividends that are large and mostly uncorrelated (to the economy’s performance).
The recent acquisition of the LIC Milton has significantly increased the WHSP portfolio size, diversifying its income streams and giving it flexibility to pursue potential investments in a number of growth trend areas like ageing, the energy transition and education.
WHSP has grown its dividend every year since 2000. I think it has every chance of growing that dividend each year this decade as well, as it typically re-invests a healthy proportion of its annual cashflow each year, growing the annual profit for next year’s dividend.
Assuming the ASX dividend share pays $0.64 per share in FY22, that translates to a dividend yield of 3% including the franking credits.
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