MIAMI and HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Dec. 18, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- HEICO Corporation (NYSE:HEI.A) (NYSE:HEI) today announced that its Board of Directors declared a regular semi-annual cash dividend of $.05 per share payable on both classes of common stock. The cash dividend is payable on January 23, 2008 to shareholders of record as of January 9, 2008.
The cash dividend represents a 25% increase over the prior per share amount of $.04 and is HEICO's 59th consecutive semi-annual cash dividend since 1979.
Laurans A. Mendelson, HEICO's Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer commenting on the cash dividend, remarked, "By raising the cash dividend, our Board of Directors' goal is to reflect its continuing confidence in HEICO's growth strategies and reward our shareholders, while retaining sufficient capital required to fund our internal growth objectives and acquisition strategies."
Note: HEICO has two classes of common stock traded on the NYSE. Both classes, the Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) and the Common Stock (HEI), are virtually identical in all economic respects. The only difference between the share classes is the voting rights. The Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) receives 1/10 vote per share and the Common Stock (HEI) receives one vote per share. There are currently approximately 15.6 million shares of HEICO's Class A Common Stock (HEI.A) outstanding and 10.5 million shares of HEICO's Common Stock (HEI) outstanding. The stock symbols for HEICO's two classes of common stock on most web sites are HEI.A and HEI. However, some web sites change HEICO's Class A Common Stock stock symbol (HEI.A) to HEI/A or HEIa.
The Company also reported that its Annual Shareholders' Meeting will be held on March 28, 2008. Shareholders of record at the close of business on January 25, 2008 will be entitled to vote at the meeting.
HEICO Corporation is engaged primarily in certain niche segments of the aviation, defense, space and electronics industries through its Hollywood, FL-based HEICO Aerospace Holdings Corp. subsidiary and its Miami, FL-based HEICO Electronic Technologies Corp. subsidiary. HEICO's customers include a majority of the world's airlines and airmotives as well as numerous defense and space contractors and military agencies worldwide in addition to telecommunications, electronics and medical equipment manufacturers. For more information about HEICO, please visit our web site at http://www.heico.com.
Certain statements in this press release constitute forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks, uncertainties and contingencies. HEICO's actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by those forward-looking statements as a result of factors including, but not limited to: lower demand for commercial air travel or airline fleet changes, which could cause lower demand for our goods and services; product specification costs and requirements, which could cause an increase to our costs to complete contracts; governmental and regulatory demands, export policies and restrictions, reductions in defense or space spending by U.S. and/or foreign customers, or competition from existing and new competitors, which could reduce our sales; HEICO's ability to introduce new products and product pricing levels, which could reduce our sales or sales growth; HEICO's ability to make acquisitions and achieve operating synergies from acquired businesses, customer credit risk, interest rates and economic conditions within and outside of the aviation, defense, space and electronics industries, which could negatively impact our costs and revenues; and HEICO's ability to maintain effective internal controls, which could adversely affect our business and the market price of our common stock. Parties receiving this material are encouraged to review all of HEICO's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to filings on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.