MONTREAL, Oct. 25, 2016 /CNW/ - CN (TSX: CNR) (NYSE: CNI)
announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a new
share repurchase program. CN believes that the repurchase of
its shares represents an appropriate and beneficial use of the
Company's funds.
Ghislain Houle, CN executive vice-president and chief financial
officer, said: "CN has proven resilient in challenging market
conditions by continuing to deliver solid financial results and
free cash flow. Over the past five years, CN has repurchased 135
million shares, returning approximately C$8
billion to its shareholders. I am pleased that CN continues
its track record of rewarding shareholders with this new
program."
The new normal-course-issuer bid (Bid) permits CN to
purchase, for cancellation, up to 33 million common shares,
representing 5.1 per cent of the 649,072,911 common shares issued
and outstanding of the Company not held by insiders on Oct. 17, 2016. On that date, 768,109,539 CN
common shares were issued and outstanding.
The Bid – starting on Oct. 30,
2016, and ending no later than Oct.
29, 2017 – will be conducted through a combination of
discretionary transactions and automatic repurchase plans through
the facilities of the Toronto and
New York stock exchanges, or
alternative trading systems, if eligible, and will conform to their
regulations.
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) rules will permit CN to
purchase daily, through TSX facilities, a maximum of 280,418 common
shares under the Company's Bid. Purchases under the Bid will be
made by means of open market transactions or such other means as
the TSX or a securities regulatory authority may permit, including
private agreements or share repurchase programs under one or more
issuer bid exemption orders issued by securities regulatory
authorities in Canada.
The price to be paid by CN for its open market purchases of
common shares will be the market price at the time of acquisition,
plus brokerage fees. Purchases made under issuer bid exemption
orders will be at a discount to the prevailing market price as per
the terms of the order.
As at Oct. 24, 2016, CN has
repurchased 28.3 million common shares under its share repurchase
program announced in October 2015 at
a weighted-average price of C$73.67
per share, excluding brokerage fees, returning C$2.08 billion to its shareholders. CN will
continue purchasing shares under this program until Oct. 28, 2016.
CN also announced today that its Board of Directors has approved
a fourth-quarter 2016 dividend on the Company's common shares
outstanding. A quarterly dividend of thirty-seven-and-one-half
cents (C$0.375) per common share will
be paid on Dec. 30, 2016, to
shareholders of record at the close of business on Dec. 9, 2016.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements included
in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 and under Canadian securities laws, including
potential purchases of common shares for cancellation under a
normal-course-issuer bid. By their nature, forward-looking
statements involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and are
subject to the discretion of CN's Board of Directors in respect of
the declaration of dividends. The Company cautions that its
assumptions may not materialize and that current economic
conditions render such assumptions, although reasonable at the time
they were made, subject to greater uncertainty. Forward-looking
statements may be identified by the use of terminology such as
"believes," "expects," "anticipates," "assumes," "outlook,"
"plans," "targets," or other similar words.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other factors which may cause the actual results or performance of
the Company to be materially different from the outlook or any
future results or performance implied by such statements.
Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. Important risk factors that could
affect the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited
to, the effects of general economic and business conditions;
industry competition; inflation, currency and interest rate
fluctuations; changes in fuel prices; legislative and/or regulatory
developments; compliance with environmental laws and regulations;
actions by regulators; security threats; reliance on technology;
transportation of hazardous materials; various events which could
disrupt operations, including natural events such as severe
weather, droughts, floods and earthquakes; effects of climate
change; labor negotiations and disruptions; environmental claims;
uncertainties of investigations, proceedings or other types of
claims and litigation; risks and liabilities arising from
derailments; and other risks detailed from time to time in reports
filed by CN with securities regulators in Canada and the
United States. Reference should be made to Management's
Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) in CN's annual and interim
reports, Annual Information Form and Form 40-F, filed with Canadian
and U.S. securities regulators and available on CN's website, for a
description of major risk
factors.
Forward-looking statements reflect information as of the date on
which they are made. CN assumes no obligation to update or revise
forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in
circumstances, or changes in beliefs, unless required by applicable
securities laws. In the event CN does update any forward-looking
statement, no inference should be made that CN will make additional
updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any
other forward-looking statement.
CN is a true backbone of the economy, transporting more than
C$250 billion worth of goods annually
for a wide range of business sectors, ranging from resource
products to manufactured products to consumer goods, across a rail
network of approximately 20,000 route-miles spanning Canada and mid-America. CN – Canadian National
Railway Company, along with its operating railway subsidiaries --
serves the cities and ports of Vancouver, Prince
Rupert, B.C., Montreal,
Halifax, New Orleans, and Mobile, Ala., and the metropolitan areas of
Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Calgary, Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Duluth,
Minn./Superior, Wis., and
Jackson, Miss., with connections
to all points in North America.
For more information about CN, visit the Company's website at
www.cn.ca
SOURCE CN