The Board of Directors of Lancaster Colony Corporation voted 21 November 2005 to raise the regular quarterly cash dividend for the 43rd consecutive year. The board also approved a special cash dividen…
The Board of Directors of Lancaster Colony Corporation voted 21 November 2005 to raise the regular quarterly cash dividend for the 43rd consecutive year. The board also approved a special cash dividend of USD 2.00 per common share. The special dividend and the quarterly dividend of USD 0.26 per share will be paid on 30 December 2005, to shareholders of record on 9 December 2005. John B. Gerlach, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer, said, “After careful consideration of the company“s existing capital structure and likely cash needs, the board felt that the payment of a special dividend provides an appropriate return of value to shareholders and enables the company to retain financial resources adequate to support additional Specialty Foods acquisitions and other future growth opportunities.” Based on approximately 33.8 million shares currently outstanding, the special dividend payout will total approximately USD 67.6 million. “We are also pleased to continue our record of increasing our ongoing cash dividends each year,” Mr. Gerlach said. Lancaster Colony is one of only 22 US companies to have increased cash dividends each year for 43 consecutive years, and this will be the 170th consecutive quarterly cash dividend paid by the company since September 1963. The board declared a quarterly cash dividend of USD 0.26 per share, up from USD 0.25 per share paid in each of the previous four quarters. The cash dividend will bring the indicated annual payout, excluding the special dividend, for the current fiscal year ending 30 June 2006, to USD 1.03 per share, a 5% increase over the USD 0.98 per share paid in the previous fiscal year. Shareholders voting at the annual meeting reelected three incumbent directors for three-year terms. The reelected directors are Robert L. Fox, financial adviser for Advest, Inc.; John B. Gerlach, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of the company; and Edward H. Jennings, president emeritus at The Ohio State University.