Watsco Boosts Annual Dividend by 19% to $5.00 Per Share
April 25 2017 - 7:30AM
Business Wire
Watsco, Inc. (NYSE: WSO) announced today that its Board of
Directors has approved a 19% increase in its annual dividend to
$5.00 per share on each outstanding share of its Common and Class B
common stock. The increase will be reflected in the Company’s next
regular dividend payment beginning in July 2017.
Albert H. Nahmad, Watsco’s Chairman & CEO stated: “We are
pleased to be able to increase dividends to our shareholders. This
latest increase reflects our confidence in the business and is
supported by our continued positive cash flow and our strong
balance sheet.”
Watsco has paid dividends to shareholders for more than 40
consecutive years. The Company’s philosophy is to share increasing
amounts of cash flow through higher dividends while maintaining a
conservative balance sheet with continued capacity to build its
distribution network. Future changes in dividends are considered in
light of investment opportunities, cash flow, general economic
conditions and Watsco’s overall financial condition.
About Watsco
Watsco improves indoor living and working environments with air
conditioning and heating solutions that provide comfort regardless
of the outdoor climate. There are approximately 92 million central
air conditioning and heating systems installed in the United States
that have been in service for more than 10 years. Older systems
often operate below today’s government mandated energy efficiency
and environmental standards. Watsco has an opportunity to
accelerate the replacement of these systems at a scale greater than
our competitors as the movement toward reducing energy consumption
and its environmental impact continues. This is especially
important since heating and cooling accounts for approximately half
of the energy consumed in a typical U.S. home.
Watsco’s traditional sales channel is through one of its 561
locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico, and
on an export basis to Latin America and the Caribbean. This network
has been built over the last 25 years and serves 88,000 active
customers. Watsco is developing and investing in technologies to
enable sales via e-commerce, on-line marketplaces and through the
retail sales channel. As the industry leader, we believe that
significant growth potential remains given that the marketplace for
HVAC/R products at the consumer level is estimated to be $88
billion annually. Additional information about Watsco may be found
at http://www.watsco.com.
This document includes certain “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of
words such as “will,” “would,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “believe,”
“plan,” “optimistic,” “”goal” or “intend,” the negative of these
terms and similar references to future periods. These statements
are based on management's current expectations and are subject to
uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ
materially from these expectations due to changes in economic,
business, competitive market, new housing starts and completions,
capital spending in commercial construction, consumer spending and
debt levels, regulatory and other factors, including, without
limitation, the effects of supplier concentration, competitive
conditions within Watsco’s industry, seasonal nature of sales of
Watsco’s products, the ability of the Company to expand its
business, insurance coverage risks and final GAAP adjustments.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date the statement
was made. Watsco assumes no obligation to update forward-looking
information to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or
changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information,
except as required by applicable law. Detailed information about
these factors and additional important factors can be found in the
documents that Watsco files with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, such as Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170425005419/en/
Watsco, Inc.Barry S. Logan, 305-714-4102Senior Vice
Presidentblogan@watsco.com
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