Southwest bumps dividend and share buyback while unions picket over contracts
With profits still at record levels, Southwest will be returning more of those earnings to shareholders through an increased quarterly dividend and a new US$2b share repurchase program, CE Gary Kelly said Wednesday. Southwest’s Q1 dividend was increased by 33% from $.075 per share to $.10 per share following a vote of Southwest’s board of directors. Boosted by low fuel prices, the Dallas company earned a record $511m in Q1 2016, a 13% increase over last year. The increased returns for shareholders did not go unnoticed by hundreds of Southwest employees who were picketing outside the meeting. Southwest’s pilots, flight attendants and mechanics unions have all been without updated contracts for several years and have been taking increasingly visible steps to bring attention to their situation. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-05-19/unaligned/southwest-bumps-dividend-and-share-buyback-while-unions-picket-over-contracts
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Southwest bumps dividend and share buyback while unions picket over contracts
With profits still at record levels, Southwest will be returning more of those earnings to shareholders through an increased quarterly dividend and a new US$2b share repurchase program, CE Gary Kelly said Wednesday. Southwest’s Q1 dividend was increased by 33% from $.075 per share to $.10 per share following a vote of Southwest’s board of directors. Boosted by low fuel prices, the Dallas company earned a record $511m in Q1 2016, a 13% increase over last year. The increased returns for shareholders did not go unnoticed by hundreds of Southwest employees who were picketing outside the meeting. Southwest’s pilots, flight attendants and mechanics unions have all been without updated contracts for several years and have been taking increasingly visible steps to bring attention to their situation. <br/>
