Company Triples Quarterly Dividend to $0.12 from $0.04 per share
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE:WYN) today announced an increase in the Company's quarterly cash dividend and that it plans to resume its share repurchase program.
"We are pleased to announce a tripling of our cash dividend and our intention to resume share repurchase activity," said Stephen P. Holmes, chairman and CEO, Wyndham Worldwide. "As we continue to transform the Company to drive free cash flow, these actions reflect our confidence in the resilience of our business model, our proven ability to execute, and the sustainability of our cash flow, while maintaining investment grade credit metrics."
The Board of Directors authorized an increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.12 from $0.04 per share, beginning with the dividend that is expected to be declared in the first quarter of 2010. With this increase the dividend is equivalent to an annual rate of $0.48 per share.
The Company also announced its plan to resume the repurchase of its common stock under its existing $200 million stock repurchase program, which currently has $157 million remaining capacity. The amount and timing of specific repurchases are subject to market conditions, applicable legal requirements and other factors. Repurchases may be conducted in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.
About Wyndham Worldwide
As one of the world's largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide offers individual consumers and business-to-business customers a broad suite of hospitality products and services across various accommodation alternatives and price ranges through its premier portfolio of world-renowned brands. Wyndham Hotel Group encompasses approximately 7,110 franchised hotels and approximately 597,700 hotel rooms worldwide. Wyndham Exchange and Rentals offers leisure travelers, including its 3.8 million members access to over 65,000 vacation properties located in approximately 100 countries. Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 155 vacation ownership resorts serving over 820,000 owners throughout North America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Wyndham Worldwide, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., employs approximately 25,000 employees globally.
For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit the Company's web site at www.wyndhamworldwide.com.
Logos, product and company names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.