Singapore Exchange (SGX)

[weijian]

24 Apr 2020 SGX 3QFY2020 everything up except dividend

A little while ago (FY19), SGX's dividend policy used to be 20cents/share or 80% of NP. From FY19 onwards, the "% of NP" was taken away and dividend policy became 30cents/year (or 7.5cents/quarter).

The dividends paid out in the last few years fluctuates at around ~80-90% of NP. In a bad year like 2011/2012 (spent too much money on SGX-ASX failed merger), dividends remained the same as prior year and payout ratio hit close to 100% of NP.

SGX dividends have been consistent (abeit slow increase) on a yearly basis since GFC2008. 3Q20 result is an anomaly and probably wouldn't be repeated. Whether is it the dividend policy or past behavior, there is actually little indication that a quarterly dividend increase would actually materialize.