(CN issued the following on July 23.)
MONTREAL — CN announced today that its Board of Directors has authorized a normal course issuer bid to purchase for cancellation up to 33 million, or 6.6 per cent, of the common shares outstanding of the Company not held by its insiders on July 11, 2007. Approximately 502 million CN common shares were issued and outstanding on that date.
The price CN will pay for any common shares will be the market price at the time of acquisition, plus brokerage fees, or such other price as may be permitted by the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The new repurchase program – starting July 26, 2007, and ending no later than July 25, 2008 – will be conducted through the facilities of the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and will conform to their regulations. The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) rules permit CN to purchase daily, through TSX facilities, a maximum of approximately 340,800 common shares under the Company’s repurchase program. Additionally, purchases under the normal course issuer bid will be made by means of open market transactions or such other means as may be permitted by the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The new share buy-back follows the recent completion of CN’s common share repurchase program announced in July 2006, under which it repurchased 28 million common shares at a weighted average price of C$51.88.
Claude Mongeau, executive vice-president and chief financial officer, said: “CN’s policy is to return excess cash to its shareholders through ongoing increases in dividends and share repurchase programs.
“Based on the strength of our financial performance and expectations of significant future free cash flows, we are increasing the size of our share repurchase program from the one just completed. With strong cash flow and coverage ratios, we will continue to reward our shareholders while maintaining a solid financial position.”
CN also announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a third-quarter 2007 dividend on the Company’s common shares outstanding. A quarterly dividend of twenty-one cents (C$0.21) per common share will be paid on Sept. 28, 2007, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 7, 2007.
CN – Canadian National Railway Company and its operating railway subsidiaries – spans Canada and mid-America, from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, serving the ports of Vancouver, Prince Rupert, B.C., Montreal, Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the key metropolitan areas of Toronto, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Duluth, Minn./Superior, Wis., Green Bay, Wis., Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, St. Louis, and Jackson, Miss., with connections to all points in North America. For more information on CN, visit the company’s website at www.cn.ca.