Kadant Inc. (NYSE:KAI) announced that its Board of Directors has
approved the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend to stockholders,
the first in the Company’s history.
The initial quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 per share will be paid on
May 9, 2013 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on
April 11, 2013. Future declarations of dividends are subject to Board
approval and may be adjusted as business needs or market conditions
change.
“Returning capital to shareholders has been a key element of our program
to create shareholder value,” said Jonathan W. Painter, president and
chief executive officer of Kadant. “Over the last two years we have
returned over $30 million of capital to our stockholders through stock
buybacks, which equates to approximately 47% of our net income from
continuing operations during that period. We expect to continue to
repurchase our shares in the future when conditions are favorable. We
will also continue to pursue acquisition opportunities as part of our
growth strategy. In short, we believe we have sufficient cash flow and
liquidity to be able to invest in our business, pursue complementary
acquisitions, and return cash to shareholders through dividends and
stock repurchases.”
Kadant Inc. is a leading supplier to the global pulp and paper industry.
Our stock-preparation; fluid-handling; and doctoring, cleaning, and
filtration products are designed to increase efficiency and improve
quality in pulp and paper production. Many of our products, particularly
in our fluid-handling product line, are also used to optimize production
in other process industries. In addition, we produce granules from
papermaking byproducts for agricultural and lawn and garden
applications. Kadant is based in Westford, Massachusetts, with revenues
of $332 million in 2012 and 1,600 employees in 17 countries worldwide.
For more information, visit www.kadant.com.
The following constitutes a “Safe Harbor” statement under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains
forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and
uncertainties, including forward-looking statements about our products
and technologies. Our actual results may differ materially from these
forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors,
including those set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in Kadant’s
quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 29, 2012.
These include risks and uncertainties relating to our dependence on the
pulp and paper industry; significance of sales and operation of
manufacturing facilities in China; commodity and component price
increases or shortages; international sales and operations; competition;
soundness of suppliers and customers; our effective tax rate; future
restructurings; soundness of financial institutions; our debt
obligations; restrictions in our credit agreement; our acquisition
strategy; protection of patents and proprietary rights; failure of our
information systems or breaches of data security; fluctuations in our
share price; and anti-takeover provisions. We undertake no obligation to
publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of
new information, future events, or otherwise.