CHICAGO, Dec. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of
Directors of Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE: ORI) has
declared a special, one-time cash dividend of $1.00 per share. The dividend will be paid on
January 15, 2021 to shareholders of
record on January 5, 2021.
At its most recent quarterly meeting, the Board of Directors
evaluated a number of factors critical to the long-term management
of Old Republic's diversified insurance business. Key among such
factors were:
- The Company's long-term strategy and required capital resources
to ensure sustainability of its integrated multi-insurance
coverages, and industry-focused underwriting specializations;
and
- The capital position of the insurance underwriting subsidiaries
to which substantially all of the Company's financial resources are
committed.
With this review, the Board of Directors concluded that
currently available unregulated liquid funds are appropriately
sufficient to allow the payment of this one-time special dividend
in a fair and equitable manner to all shareholders of record.
All told, during the past five years, the Board of Directors
will now have declared regular and special cash dividends of nearly
$2 billion or approximately 70% of
the Company's total earnings. All such dividends will have been
paid proportionately to all shareholders of record during those
years. Over that same time period, Old Republic's shareholders
equity account has nonetheless grown by nearly 52% principally
through retained earnings, a moderate capital raise, and market
appreciation of the Company's fixed maturity and common stock
portfolios.
About Old Republic
Chicago-based Old Republic International
Corporation is one of the nation's 50 largest shareholder-owned
insurance businesses. It is a member of the Fortune 500 listing of
America's largest companies. The Company is organized as an
insurance holding company whose subsidiaries actively market,
underwrite, and provide risk management services for a wide variety
of coverages, mostly in the general and title insurance fields. A
long-term interest in mortgage guaranty and consumer credit
indemnity coverages has devolved to a run-off operating mode in
recent years. Old Republic's general insurance business ranks among
the nation's 50 largest, while its title insurance operations are
the third largest in its industry.
The nature of Old Republic's business requires that it be
managed for the long run and its cash dividend policy reflects this
long-term orientation. Here's a summary of recent years' total book
and market returns, which includes the addition and reinvestment of
cash dividend payments, in comparison with the financial
performance of three selected indices similarly
developed.
|
ORI
|
|
Selected Indices'
Compounded
Total Annual
Returns
|
|
Annual
Book Value Compounded
Total Return
|
Annual
Market Value
Compounded Total Return
|
|
Nominal
Gross Domestic
Product
|
S & P
500
Index
|
S & P Insurance
Index
|
Ten Years 2000 -
2009
|
9.5%
|
7.4%
|
|
4.1%
|
-1.0%
|
-3.7%
|
Ten Years 2010 -
2019
|
7.7%
|
14.8%
|
|
4.0%
|
13.6%
|
12.4%
|
Twenty Years 2000 -
2019
|
8.6%
|
11.0%
|
|
4.1%
|
6.1%
|
4.1%
|
According to the most recent edition of Mergent's Dividend
Achievers, Old Republic is listed in 58th place
among just 113 qualifying publicly held companies, out of thousands
considered, that have posted at least 25 consecutive years of
annual dividend growth.
For Old Republic's
latest news releases and other corporate documents:
Please visit us
at www.oldrepublic.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alternatively,
please write or call: Investor Relations
Old Republic
International Corporation
307 North Michigan
Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601
(312)
346-8100
|
View original
content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/old-republic-declares-a-special-one-time-cash-dividend-of-1-00-per-share-301196130.html
SOURCE Old Republic International Corporation