Some of the dividend shares on the ASX have yields of more than 4%.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) interest rate is now just 0.1%, which is almost as close to 0% as you can go.
There are some businesses that currently have yields which are much higher than the RBA interest rate. The below businesses were among the few that increased their income payments to investors during the 2020 calendar year:
Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW)
Brickworks increased its FY20 dividend by 4% to 59 cents per unit. That means at the current Brickworks share price it has a grossed-up dividend yield of 4.2%.
The business hasn't cut its dividend since 1976.
The ASX dividend share funds its dividend from two core asset groups. The first area of long-term support for the Brickworks dividend is the holding of Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co. Ltd (ASX: SOL) shares. Major investments of Soul Patts include Brickworks, TPG Telecom Ltd (ASX: TPG), New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC) and Australian Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (ASX: API).
Soul Patts has a diversified asset exposure to various industries including telecommunications, financial services, mining, energy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and swimming schools.
Soul Patts is an ASX dividend share with the longest dividend record on the ASX, having increased its dividend to shareholders every single year since 2000.
Brickworks expects Soul Patts to continue to deliver a growing stream of earnings and dividends over the long term.
The other dividend-supporting segment of Brickworks is its joint venture property trust where the development activity at Oakdale West continues at an "unprecedented" scale.
Brickworks says that the trend towards online shopping, and demand for more sophisticated facilities will drive growth. It has enough land left for at least a 5-year development pipeline.
At the moment there are two large-scale warehouses being built at Oakdale West. One for Amazon and one for Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL). After these facilities are completed over the next couple of years, it's expected to increase the gross assets of the trust to more than $3 billion and the net rental distributions to Brickworks are expected to increase by more than 25%.
Charter Hall Long WALE REIT (ASX: CLW)
This is an ASX dividend share operating as a real estate investment trust (REIT).
It describes itself as Australia's largest and most diversified long weighted average lease expiry (WALE) REIT.
Charter Hall Long WALE REIT is invested across various assets including telco exchanges, agri-logistics, industrial, office and long WALE retail.
It owns over 450 properties that are worth more than $4 billion and its occupancy rate is above 97%. The WALE is around 14 years, which is among the longest on the ASX.
The ASX dividend shares have a number of major tenants including Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS), Australian government entities, BP, Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW), Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING), Coles, Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS), Arnott's Group, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and Wesfarmers Ltd's (ASX: WES) Bunnings.
In FY21 the REIT is expecting operating earnings per share (EPS) of no less than 29.1 cents per security, which translates to a yield of 6.2%.
