US: Coca-Cola Enterprises increases quarterly dividend

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 17 February 2010

Coca-Cola Enterprises has increased the company’s regular quarterly dividend by 12.5% to $0.09 per common share.

The quarterly dividend rate is equivalent to an annual dividend of $0.36 per common share. The dividend is payable 25 March 2010 to shareowners of record on 12 March.

“This is a demonstration of our stated commitment to increase returns of cash to shareowners,” said John Brock, chairman and CEO. “This increase reflects our board’s confidence in our long-term cash flow and represents a 50 percent increase in our annualized dividend since 2006.”

The firm last week reported a swing to full-year profits as volume growth in Europe offset a decline in North America.

The US bottler reported a net income of US$731m for the 12 months to 31 December. This compared to losses of $4.39bn in the previous year.