McCormick & Co.'s board increased the quarterly cash dividend by a penny to 13 cents yesterday, continuing an eight-year string of at least annual dividend raises.
The Sparks-based spice giant raised its dividend by 8.3 percent because "we have recently completed another profitable year . . . and we want to reward our long-term shareholders," said the company's president, H. Eugene Blattman.
The company has not reported its annual earnings for its 1994 fiscal year, which ended Nov. 30. But analysts have predicted McCormick will earn between $107 million and $110 million in net profits this year, up from $73.1 million in 1993.
In October, the company announced that 1994's earnings would be reduced by a pretax charge of up to $66 million for a restructuring and that about 7 percent of its work force would be laid off. The layoffs of about 600 employees are scheduled to start in February.
The restructuring, McCormick's third since 1986, was designed to bolster the company's stock price. Once a high-flier, McCormick's stock has lagged recently and is trading about 20 percent lower this December than it was at the same period last year.
McCormick's shares closed yesterday at $18.75, down 12.5 cents.
Analysts said that they had expected the board to raise the dividend and that they didn't believe the increase was connected to the restructuring.
"I wouldn't read anything about that into the increase," said John Bierbusse, who follows McCormick's stock for A. G. Edwards in St. Louis. "They are just following their historic pattern."
The dividend raise, payable Jan. 20 to shareholders of record Dec. 30, was the 13th increase for McCormick in the last decade. It follows a similar penny raise last year at this time.