Johnson Outdoors Inc. declarded its first quarterly dividend in more than four-year years last week, saying that after five years of restructuring it is well positioned to continue growing and reward its shareholders.
The Wisconsin company’s board of directors declared quarterly dividends of 7.5 cent and 6.8 cent for holders of its Class A and Class B common stock respectively. The dividends will be paid Nov. 7 to shareholders of record at the close of business Oct. 24. The company also said it anticipates paying out dividends of 30 and 27 cents for the fiscal year started Sept. 29.
Johnson Outdoors declared its first quarterly dividend as a public company in 2007 only to suspend it in 2008 when the financial crisis hit, causing the company to undertake an aggressive cost cutting plan. JOUT went on to cut tens of millions of dollars in annual costs by consolidating kayak manufacturing at its factory in Old Town, ME, transitioning its marine electronics business in Italy from a direct to a distributor model. The company reported operating margins of 5.2 percent in the fiscal year ended Sept. 28, 2012, up 140 basis points from two years earlier. It steadily paid down debt while builing its cash reserves, enabling it to comfortably acquire Jetboil in November, 2012. On Friday its stock closed at a five-year high of $27.10, up more than five-fold from early 2009.
“Over the past five years we have outpaced our markets and competitors, steadily growing profits faster than sales,” said Helen Johnson-Leipold, Chairman and CEO. “Our consistently strong financial performance, disciplined balance sheet management and healthy cash position enables us to continue to make smart, strategic investments in future growth, and to simultaneously pay a dividend to our shareholders.”
