Often called as “the Lucky Country” Australia is blessed with plenty of natural resources and wonderful weather. Similar to the Canadian banking system, the Australian banking system is stable and was least affected during the financial crisis.Australia has many of the commodities such as coal that the growing economies of China and India desperately need.
Australian equities have been one of the best performing in the world over the last 110 years. From 1900 to 2009, Australian stocks have yielded a real return of 7.5% per year according to the Credit Suisse Global Investment Yearbook 2010.
In this post lets take a quick look at five Australian stocks that have current dividend yields of over 5%. All these stocks trade on the OTC market.
1. Metcash Ltd (OTC:MHTLY) is engaged in marketing and wholesale distribution of grocery, liquor, hardware and other fast moving consumer products in Australia and parts of New Zealand. Some of the brands owned by Metcash include IGA, Cellarbrations, Foodlink, Bottle-O and Bottle-O Neighbourhood. Currently the stock pays a 6.06% dividend yield.
2. Telstra Corp Ltd (OTC:TLSYY) is Australia’s leading telecom company offering both fixed and mobile services. Telstra also owns 50% of FOXTEL which provides cable tv services. Telstra has one of the largest shareholder base in Australia. During 2009-10, it generated A$6.2 billion of free cash flow and paid A$3.5 billion in dividends to shareholders. The current dividend yield of the ADR is 10.16%.
3. Sydney-based QBE Insurance Group Ltd (OTC:QBEIY) is one of the top 25 insurers and reinsurers worldwide and operates in 49 countries. The company’s gross written premium in 2009 was $14.5 billion. The stock pays a 7.05% yield.
4. Amcor Limited (OTC: AMCRY) is engaged in the business of packaging solutions supplying a range of plastic (rigid & flexible), fibre, metal and glass packaging products. Amcor operates in 43 countries. Annual sales totaled A$12.2 billion last year. The current dividend yield is 5.15%.
5. National Australia Bank Ltd (OTC: NABZY) serves about 11 million customers thru 1800 branches in Australia, New Zealand, U.S. and the UK. The bank operates in the UK under the Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank brands. In the U.S. the bank owns the Great Western Bank. Yesterday the bank announced “a fiscal-year profit of 4.22 billion Australian dollars ($4.16 billion), up 63.2% from the year-ago period.” The current yield of the ADR is 5.31%.
