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Wiley Raises Quarterly Cash Dividend 16%HOBOKEN, N.J. --(Business Wire)-- John Wiley & Sons (News - Alert) (NYSE:JWa and JWb), a global provider of knowledge and knowledge-enabled solutions that improve outcomes in research, professional practice, and education, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.29 per share on its Class A and Class B Common Stock, payable on July 16, 2014 to shareholders of record on July 1, 2014. It is an increase of 16% over the previous quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share. The increase marks the 21st consecutive year that Wiley has raised its quarterly dividend and raises the annualized dividend payout to $1.16 per share. Additionally, in fiscal year 2014, Wiley repurchased 1.25 million shares for $63.4 million. As of April 30, the Company had nearly 3.3 million shares remaining in its repurcase program, approved by the Board of Directors in June 2013. "Our strong cash flow generation, driven by the strength of our core knowledge business, has enabled us to invest in strategic acquisitions around knowledge-enabled solutions for professionals, students and researchers, while also returning capital to shareholders," said Steve Smith, President and CEO of Wiley. "Over the past three fiscal years, we have acquired solutions companies in online program management (Deltak), corporate learning (CrossKnowledge), pre-hire (Profiles International) and post-hire assessment (Inscape), and test preparation for professional certification (ELS and Elan Guides). During the same period, we have spent $224 million on share repurchases and raised our dividend by an average annual rate of 16%, including this increase." About Wiley Wiley is a global provider of knowledge and knowledge-enabled services that improve outcomes in areas of research, professional practice, and education. Through the Research segment, the Company provides digital and print scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals, reference works, books, database services, and advertising. The Professional Development segment provides digital and print books, online assessment and training services, and test prep and certification. In Education, Wiley provides education solutions including online program management services for higher education institutions and course management tools for instructors and students, as well as print and digital content. |
