Cardinal Health increases quarterly dividend

Cardinal Health has announced that it has approved an increase of its quarterly dividend to $0.195(0.132 pounds) per share.

The new dividend, which has been ratified by the healthcare company’s board of directors, represents an 11 per cent increase and is the firm’s 103rd consecutive regular quarterly dividend.

Cardinal Health estimates that it has approximately 362 million shares outstanding as of the end of April 2010.

It added that the regular quarterly dividend will be payable on July 15th.

This news comes after the company last month announced its financial results for the third quarter of its fiscal year, reporting a one per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to $24.3 billion.

Its medical device sales contributed to this improvement, with revenue in this sector rising by seven per cent year-on-year, while its profits from pharmaceutical sales also rose.

George Barrett, chairman and chief executive officer of Cardinal Health, said: “We are pleased with our third-quarter performance and our continued momentum for the year.”