I love good ASX blue chip shares because of their market strength and their ability to make resilient profits, even in the face of an economic downturn.
Plenty of investors may already own the big banks or big miners, so I’m going to talk about two other large ASX shares that could offer even more resilient income.
Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS)
We all use the internet, and Telstra is one of the key businesses providing a gateway to entertainment, education, work, communication, banking, shopping, connecting with government services and so on.
I think the amount of devices in Australia connected to the internet is only going to increase from here, which is a very positive tailwind for the company’s subscription numbers and future profit-making.
The ASX blue-chip share is hoping to keep growing its dividend and that’s exactly what is happening at the moment. Its 2024 financial year interim dividend was hiked by 5.9%, taking the annualised dividend yield to 4.8%, or 6.9% including the franking credits.
I believe the business can keep growing its profit and dividend in the next few years, with its improving 5G network. The number of people in Australia continues to grow, which helps increase the potential demand for Telstra.
Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL)
We all need to eat food, so a supermarket business could be a very useful investment for people hoping for quite dependable earnings and a resilient dividend.
The inflation situation has made it a tricky operating environment for Coles, but conditions seem to be improving and Coles’ trading update for the first few weeks of the 2024 calendar year was promising – it grew sales faster than Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW).
The ASX blue-chip share hasn’t been listed on the ASX for that long, but it has created a track record of regularly growing its dividend payment. It’s not clear that there will be dividend growth in FY24, but the current yield translates into a dividend yield of 4.1%, or 5.8% with the franking credits.
The business is working on a number of initiatives including to be more sustainable and also to have more a more automated logistics network, which can help efficiencies and margins. This could help grow the Coles dividend in future years.