Lamar Advertising Company Announces Cash Dividend on Common Stock
May 22 2014 - 06:00AM
Lamar Advertising Company (Nasdaq:LAMR), a leading owner and
operator of outdoor advertising and logo sign displays, announces
that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend
of $0.83 per share payable on June 30, 2014 to stockholders of
record of Lamar's Class A common stock and Class B common stock on
June 1, 2014.
As previously announced, Lamar expects to elect to be treated as
a real estate investment trust ("REIT") for federal income tax
purposes effective January 1, 2014. To qualify for REIT status
commencing with its 2014 taxable year, Lamar must distribute to its
stockholders by the end of 2014 all of its pre-REIT accumulated
earnings and profits, if any. In addition, as a REIT, Lamar will be
required to distribute annually to its stockholders an amount equal
to at least 90% of its REIT taxable income (determined without
regard to the dividends paid deduction and by excluding net capital
gain). Our REIT taxable income generally does not include
income earned by our taxable REIT subsidiaries, or TRSs, except to
the extent the TRSs pay dividends to the REIT. We expect to
have net operating loss carry forwards, or NOLs, as of the
effective time of our REIT conversion. To the extent we use
these NOLs to offset our REIT taxable income, the required
distributions to stockholders would be reduced. However, in
this case, we may be subject to the alternative minimum tax.
As a result of its expected REIT election and introduction of a
quarterly distribution, Lamar previously provided its expectations
for the aggregate amount of its pre-REIT accumulated earnings and
profits of approximately $40 million. Currently, Lamar's board
of directors does not expect to make a special distribution to its
stockholders on account of its pre-REIT accumulated earnings and
profits. We plan to distribute this amount in 2014 along with
the regular quarterly distributions to stockholders of our REIT
taxable income, commencing with the dividend announced
hereby. We expect and intend that the June distribution will
satisfy the requirement to distribute our pre-REIT accumulated
earnings and profits.
The amount, timing and frequency of future distributions will be
at the sole discretion of Lamar's board of directors and will be
declared based upon various factors, a number of which may be
beyond our control, including our financial condition and operating
cash flows, the amount required to maintain REIT status and reduce
any income and excise taxes that we otherwise would be required to
pay, limitations on distributions in our existing and future debt
instruments, our ability to utilize NOLs to offset, in whole or in
part, our distribution requirements, limitations on our ability to
fund distributions using cash generated through our TRSs and other
factors that Lamar's board of directors may deem
relevant. There is no certainty as to the timing or amount of
any future distributions.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements
concerning Lamar Advertising Company's goals, beliefs,
expectations, strategies, objectives, plans, future operating
results and underlying assumptions, and other statements that are
not necessarily based on historical facts. Examples of these
statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding
the current estimate of pre-REIT accumulated earnings and profits,
the expectation to elect REIT status, the expected timing and
effect of that election and the expected timing and amount of
distributions. These statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected in these forward-looking statements. For
additional information regarding factors that may cause actual
results to differ materially from those indicated in our
forward-looking statements, we refer you to the risk factors
included in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2013, as supplemented by any risk factors
contained in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We caution
investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking
statements contained in this document. These statements speak only
as of the date of this document, and we undertake no obligation to
update or revise the statements, except as may be required by
law.
General Information
Lamar Advertising Company is a leading outdoor advertising
company currently operating over 150 outdoor advertising companies
in 44 states, Canada and Puerto Rico, logo businesses in 23 states
and the province of Ontario, Canada and over 60 transit advertising
franchises in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
CONTACT: Buster Kantrow
Director of Investor Relations
(225) 926-1000
bkantrow@lamar.com
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