Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. Increases Common Share Quarterly Dividend to $0.0875 from $0.04
CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) (Paris: CLF) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared an increase in its quarterly cash dividend to $0.0875 per common share. Cliffs had reduced its quarterly cash dividend to $0.04 per share in May 2009 as part of a number of proactive steps to enhance financial flexibility.
"Cliffs' management team responded to the sudden downturn in the global steel industry by implementing various proactive measures to enhance cash flow and preserve cash," stated Laurie Brlas, Cliffs' executive vice president and chief financial officer. "While difficult, those actions have allowed us to whether the financial crisis and continue to pursue our strategic plan, as evidenced by the recently announced acquisition of our partners' interests in Wabush Mines.
"Now, our improved visibility and outlook, including projections for strong cash flow from operations in our business, have enabled our Board of Directors to restore the cash dividend to its level prior to the reduction in May."
Cliffs indicated the increased cash dividend will be payable on Dec. 1, 2009, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 20, 2009.
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ABOUT CLIFFS NATURAL RESOURCES INC.
Cliffs Natural Resources is an international mining and natural resources company. We are the largest producer of iron ore pellets in North America, a major supplier of direct-shipping lump and fines iron ore out of Australia and a significant producer of metallurgical coal. With core values of environmental and capital stewardship, our colleagues across the globe endeavor to provide all stakeholders operating and financial transparency as embodied in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. Our Company is organized through three geographic business units:
The North American business unit is comprised of six iron ore mines owned or managed in Michigan, Minnesota and Eastern Canada, and two coking coal mining complexes located in West Virginia and Alabama. The Asia Pacific business unit is comprised of two iron ore mining complexes in Western Australia and a 45% economic interest in a coking and thermal coal mine in Queensland, Australia. The South American business unit includes a 30% interest in the Amapa Project, an iron ore project in the state of Amapa in Brazil.
Over recent years, Cliffs has been executing a strategy designed to achieve scale in the mining industry and focused on serving the world's largest and fastest growing steel markets.
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Source: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc.
Released November 10, 2009