Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. Raises Regular Quarterly Dividend To 26 Cents Per Share
In each of the first three quarters of 2003, CME paid a quarterly dividend of 14 cents per share. With its new dividend policy, announced in September 2003 -- which raised its annual dividend target to 30 percent of the prior year's cash earnings, compared with the previous target of approximately 20 percent -- the company raised its dividend to 21 cents in the fourth quarter of 2003. Based on an increase in cash earnings from $88 million in 2002 to $113 million in 2003, CME is raising its dividend, again, to 26 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2004. The amount and payment of any dividend in the future remains subject to the discretion of the Board of Directors.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange on December 6, 2002. The company was added to the Russell 1000® Index on July 1, 2003. It is the parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ( www.cme.com ), the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® electronic trading platform. CME offers futures contracts and options on futures primarily in four areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange, and commodities. The exchange moved approximately $1.4 billion per day in settlement payments in 2003 and managed $37.6 billion in collateral deposits at December 31, 2003, including $1.5 billion in deposits for non-CME products.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward- looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is available in the Investor Information section of the CME Web site. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, and GLOBEX are registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Further information about Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. is available on the CME Web site at www.cme.com .
SOURCE Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.
Media, Anita S. Liskey, +1-312-466-4613, news@cme.com , or Investor, John Peschier, +1-312-930-8491, both of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.
http://www.cme.com
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Chicago Mercantile Exchange's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.