Grainger's Shareholders Elect 10 Directors And Other Meeting Highlights
Chicago, IL - At the Grainger annual shareholder meeting held in Lake Forest, IL, Grainger Chairman, President and CEO Jim Ryan provided an update on the state of the business and a recap of 2013 full year and 2014 first quarter performance. A copy of his speech is available at www.grainger.com/investor.
Shareholders re-elected the following 10 directors:
Brian P. Anderson | Michael J. Roberts | |
V. Ann Hailey | Gary L. Rogers | |
William K. Hall | James T. Ryan | |
Stuart L. Levenick | E. Scott Santi | |
Neil S. Novich | James D. Slavik |
In addition, the shareholders ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as independent auditor for the year 2014 and voted in favor of the advisory resolution on executive compensation.
Grainger Increases Quarterly Dividend By 16 Percent And Replenishes Share Repurchase Authorization
Chicago, IL - W.W. Grainger, Inc. announced that its board of directors voted to raise the quarterly cash dividend by 16 percent to $1.08 per share payable on June 1, 2014, to shareholders of record on May 12, 2014. Grainger has provided 43 consecutive years of increased dividends.
In addition, the board authorized the purchase of up to 10 million shares of the company's outstanding common stock. Since 1984, Grainger has reduced the number of shares outstanding by more than 40 percent and returned approximately $4.9 billion to shareholders. As of March 31, 2014, the company had approximately 69 million shares of common stock outstanding.
"The increase in our dividend and share repurchase authorization is further evidence of our confidence in Grainger's future and our commitment to creating value for shareholders," said Grainger Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Ryan.
