Board of CenturyTel increases dividend and accelerates share repurchase programme

Published in M2 EquityBites on Wednesday, 25 June 2008 at 10:40 GMT CenturyTel Inc (NYSE: CTL), a provider of communications, high-speed Internet and entertainment services through broadband and fibre transport networks, announced on Tuesday (24 June) that the company's board of directors has authorised an increase in its annual cash dividend to USD2.80, from USD0.27 per share. The board also declared a one-time dividend of USD0.6325 per share, which is payable on 21 July 2008 to shareholders of record on 7 July 2008. This dividend effectively adjusts the total second quarter dividend to the new USD0.70 quarterly dividend rate. In addition, the company's board determined to utilise future share buybacks to target net debt at 2.75 times operating cash flow and also to accelerate purchases under the current USD750m share... [read full story]