Schering-Plough announces quarterly dividend

Schering-Plough has announced that its board of directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.065 (0.033 pounds) per common share, an increase of 18.2 per cent over the current quarterly dividend of the firm.

This payment, which will be made on May 29th 2007, represents the first increase in quarterly dividend at the company since 2002.

Schering-Plough also reports that its board has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per share on the six per cent mandatory convertible preferred stock payment to be paid on June 15th 2007.

Fred Hassan, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, said: “The increase in the dividend reflects the transformed performance of the company since we launched our Action Agenda In the spring of 2004.”

He added that the firm thanked its investors for their confidence in the firm as the company was being transformed into a competitor with high performance in the long term.

The company’s finance committee stated that value was being delivered to shareholders through robust execution of rigorous strategies.

Earlier this month, Schering-Plough announced the retirement of James R Nelson, vice-president and senior patent advisor at the firm, describing him as the “backbone” of patent and trademark organisation at the company.