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Bassett to raise dividend 12.5%, buy back more shares

Moves aim to “return value” to stockholders

Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, March 18, 2008

BASSETT, Va. — Bassett Furniture Inds. said Monday its directors have voted to increase the company’s common stock dividend by 12.5% and to pursue a more aggressive share repurchase program.

“We remain very committed to the furniture business and are fortunate that, even in these difficult times for the industry, we are in a position to take these steps to prudently return value to our shareholders,” said Rob Spilman, CEO.

The new dividend of 22.5 cents per share is payable June 2 to stockholders of record May 16. The dividend had been 20 cents per share.

The board amended an earlier share buyback program by boosting the repurchase authorization from $40 million to $60 million. The company said $31 million worth of stock has been repurchased under the earlier program, leaving $29 million for share repurchases under the new effort.

During the next several quarters, the company said, the repurchase program will reduce Bassett’s 11.8 million publicly held shares by about 10%.

Bassett said it would continue to fully fund a previously announced expansion of its store network, which is expected to cost $10 million to $12 million annually. Money for this effort will come from the liquidation of a portion of the company’s investment portfolio during the next two to three years.

The company recently hired a pair of investment banking firms, Stephens Inc. and Mann Armistead and Epperson, to help explore ways to better realize the value of its non-operating assets.

In trading Monday, Bassett’s stock price rose about 2.9% to $11.88 per share.

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