ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

CAPITAL STOCK

v3.2.0.727
CAPITAL STOCK
 6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2015
Equity [Abstract] Ìý
CAPITAL STOCK
NOTE 15 - CAPITAL STOCK
Dividends
On February 11, 2014, May 13, 2014, September 8, 2014 and November 19, 2014, our Board of Directors declared the quarterly cash dividend of $17.50 per Preferred Share, which is equivalent to approximately $0.44 per depositary share. The cash dividend was paid on MayÌý1, 2014, AugustÌý1, 2014, NovemberÌý3, 2014, and February 2, 2015 to our Preferred Shareholders of record as of the close of business on AprilÌý15, 2014, JulyÌý15, 2014, OctoberÌý15, 2014 and January 15, 2015, respectively. On March 27, 2015, our Board of Directors declared the quarterly cash dividend of $17.50 per Preferred Share, which is equivalent to approximately $0.44 per depositary share. The cash dividend of $12.8 million was paid on MayÌý1, 2015 to our shareholders of record as of the close of business on AprilÌý15, 2015. Additionally, on July 1, 2015, our Board of Directors declared the quarterly cash dividend of $17.50 per Preferred Share, which is equivalent to approximately $0.44 per depositary share. This cash dividend of $12.8 million will be paid on August 3, 2015, to our Preferred Shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 15, 2015.
On January 26, 2015, we announced that our Board of Directors had decided to eliminate the quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share on our common shares. The decision was applicable to the first quarter of 2015 and all subsequent quarters. The elimination of the common share dividend provides us with additional free cash flow of approximately $92 million annually, which we intend to use for further debt reduction.
During 2014, a cash dividend of $0.15 per share was paid on MarchÌý3, 2014, JuneÌý3, 2014, SeptemberÌý2, 2014 and December 1, 2014 to our common shareholders of record as of close of business on FebruaryÌý21, 2014, MayÌý23, 2014, AugustÌý15, 2014 and November 15, 2014, respectively.