The Board of Directors of The First Bancorp (NASDAQ: FNLC) declared a quarterly dividend of 19.5 cents per share. This first-quarter dividend, which is payable April 30, to shareholders of record as of April 6, represents an increase of 5.4 percent or 1.0-cent per share over the first-quarter dividend declared in 2008 of 18.5-cents per share and is equal to the 19.5-cents per share declared in the previous two quarters.
“I am pleased to announce that our board of directors voted to maintain the dividend at the same level as the prior quarter,” said Daniel R. Daigneault, the company’s president and chief executive officer.
“The quarterly dividend of 19.5-cents per share translates into an annual dividend of 78.0-cents per share, and based on yesterday’s closing price of $16.58 per share, this results in a current dividend yield of 4.70 percent annually. In our view, this is extremely attractive given the dramatic drop in rates recently.
“In these challenging economic times, capital management has become increasingly important for all banks,” President Daigneault said.
“That being said, the board also feels that maintaining our quarterly dividend at this level is equally important and in the best interest of our shareholders. With the $25 million of additional capital that we received under the U.S. Treasury Capital Purchase Program, our total risk-based capital ratio is nearly 14.0 percent, which is very comfortably above the FDIC’s well-capitalized threshold of 10.0 percent.”
The First Bancorp, headquartered in Damariscotta, is the holding company for The First, N.A. Founded in 1864, The First is an independent community bank serving Mid-Coast and Down East Maine with 14 offices in Lincoln, Knox, Hancock and Washington Counties.
For more information, please contact F. Stephen Ward, the First Bancorp’s treasurer and chief financial officer, at 563-3272.
