What has been unmistakable this year is the rise and rise of DBS Group Holdings’ share price. Although it isn’t the top performer in the Straits Times Index in terms of share price, up just 14% compared with 80% for ST Engineering and more than 50% for Hongkong Land, DBS’s share price has been rising steadily for the past 10 years. In a decade, up its share price, excluding dividends, is up 3.5x.
In 2017, DBS paid a special dividend. It appeared to be a one-off. But then the bank started to step up its dividends regularly. In 2023, DBS announced it would pay six cents more per quarter, or 24 cents a year. In 2Q2025, DBS paid a core dividend of 60 cents per share per quarter, and 15 cents in a capital return dividend, taking total payout in 1H2025 to $1.50, or $3 a year. This translates into a dividend yield of around 6% based on a $50 share price.
