Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. Announces 12.8 Percent Dividend Increase And New Dividend Policy Targeting Higher Growth.Business Editors ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2003 Patrick Stokes Patrick T Stokes is the former president and CEO of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. He is now chairman of the Board of Directors of the Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. Leadership at Anheuser-Busch In 1990, Stokes became president of Anheuser-Busch, Inc. , president and chief executive officer of Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc., (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :BUD) today announced that the Board of Directors has increased the regular quarterly dividend on the company's common stock to 22 cents, from 19 1/2 cents per share Cents per share The amount of a mutual fund's dividend or capital gains distributions that a shareholder will receive for each share owned. , an increase of 12.8 percent. This marks the 27th consecutive year of Anheuser-Busch dividend increases. The new dividend rate is payable September 9, 2003, to shareholders of record on August 11, 2003. Anheuser-Busch's average annual dividend per share increase during the past five years was 8.4 percent, which represented top quartile Quartile A statistical term describing a division of observations into four defined intervals based upon the values of the data and how they compare to the entire set of observations. Notes: Each quartile contains 25% of the total observations. dividend per share growth among S&P 500 companies. The higher dividend increase in 2003 reflects a change in Anheuser-Busch's dividend policy. It is now the Board of Directors' intent to increase dividends per share Dividends per share Dividend paid for the past 12 months divided by the number of common shares outstanding, as reported by a company. The number of shares often is determined by a weighted average of shares outstanding over the reporting term. in line with the company's earnings per share growth, versus a prior policy of increasing dividends per share somewhat less than the growth in earnings per share. This policy change reflects the recent reduction in the federal tax rate on corporate dividends. Based in St. Louis, Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc. is the world's largest brewer and one of the largest theme park operators in the United States. The company is also a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and the world's largest recycler of aluminum beverage containers. |
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