IFF Declares Dividend for Fourth Quarter and Announces New $250 Million Share Repurchase Program

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 11, 2012-- International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF), a leading global creator of flavors and fragrances for consumer products, announced that its Board of Directors has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.34 per share of the Company’s common stock, payable on December 28, 2012 to shareholders of record as of December 21, 2012. This dividend is intended to be in lieu of the regular quarterly cash dividend which traditionally has been declared in December and paid in January. The earlier dividend payment is due to a potential increase in the dividend tax rate in 2013.
The Company also announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a $250 million share repurchase program, which is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2013 and to be completed by the end of 2014. At the current market price, the new program would enable the repurchase of approximately 4 million shares, or approximately 5% of the shares currently outstanding. The purchases will be made from time to time on the open market or through private transactions as market and business conditions warrant. Repurchased shares will be placed into treasury stock.
Doug Tough, IFF’s Chairman and CEO, said, “We believe purchasing our own shares at this time is a prudent use of our cash. Given the strength of our balance sheet and our overall financial flexibility, we believe we are well positioned to invest in the future growth of our business, while at the same time returning cash to shareholders through dividend payments and share repurchases. Over the past 10 years, IFF has returned nearly $1.9 billion to shareholders through dividend payments and share repurchases. This share repurchase program demonstrates our continued confidence in IFF’s long-term growth prospects and our commitment to building shareholder value.”