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发帖数: 5997 | 2 UPDATE: GE Raises Dividend 17% In Second Such Boost This Year
23 minutes ago - Dow Jones News
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Symbol Last %Chg
GE 17.84 4.12%
As of 2:12 PM ET 12/10/10
(Updates throughout with additional detail, background and stock activity.)
By Bob Sechler
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
General Electric Co. (GE) said Friday that it will raise its quarterly
dividend by about 17% to 14 cents a share in a move that may precede further
payout increases by U.S. industrial groups now flush with cash.
The second raise by GE this year still leaves the payout at less than half
the level when GE made its historic dividend cut in February 2009 at a time
when heavy losses at its finance arm weighed heavily on the U.S.
conglomerate.
The move comes ahead of the company's annual outlook meeting next week and
follows the improved performance by its core industrial business and the GE
Capital finance arm, which plans to start repaying a dividend to its parent
from 2012.
GE shares climbed following the announcement and were recently up 3.2% at $
17.67, their highest level since May.
The combination of improving demand conditions and restructuring efforts
have left U.S. and European industrial companies sitting on a growing cash
pile that has spurred merger-and-acquisition activity.
GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said in October that GE would consider a
another dividend raise "if we don't see good opportunities" for acquisitions
".
Immelt did not rule out more deal-making despite the latest rise, and in a
statement said GE "plans to continue capitalizing on complementary and
financially attractive inorganic growth opportunities," as well as engage in
"opportunistic" share buybacks and invest in research and development.
GE's latest dividend increase will cost it some $215 million a quarter. The
conglomerate said early in the fall that it had the firepower to spend "$30
billionish" on acquisitions over the next two to three years.
He said the payout increase reflected strong cash generation, the recovery
at GE Capital, and "solid underlying performance in our industrial
businesses through year-end 2010".
GE said in July it would raise the payout 20%, from 10 cents a share. This
compares with the 31-cent dividend at the time of the February 2009 cut.
Immelt is scheduled to deliver his annual outlook to investors on Tuesday
from the "Saturday Night Live" stage in New York's Rockefeller Center.
GE reported in October that its third-quarter profit dropped 18% on impacts
from selling its Japan consumer-finance business, although equipment orders
rose 9%.
It also has been refocusing, reducing its stake in the NBC Universal media
business, shrinking GE Capital and agreeing to buy energy infrastructure
company Dresser Inc. for $3 billion. | y*****e
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