Foot Locker announces 1 billion share repurchase plan

Foot Locker has kicked off the year in good shape, declaring a first-quarter dividend of 0.25 dollar per share, what implies a 14 percent increase. Additionally, the athletic footwear group has approved a new 1 billion dollars share repurchase plan.

Foot Locker, Inc. (FL) has just announced that its Board of Directors had authorised three capital allocation initiatives that simultaneously provide meaningful returns to our shareholders and maintain a significant investment in its business operations.

First, the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on the company's common stock of 0.25 dollars per share, which will be payable on May 1, 2015 to shareholders of record on April 17, 2015. This dividend declaration represents a 14 percent increase over the company's previous quarterly per-share amount and is equivalent to an annualised rate of 1.00 dollar per share, further explained the retailer in a note to investors.

Secondly, the Board of Directors approved a new 3-year, 1 billion dollars common share repurchase program extending through January 2018, replacing and nearly doubling the previous 600 million dollars program.

It is noteworthy that Foot Locker spent 305 million dollars under the previous program in 2014, and as of Tuesday, it had substantially completed the full program amount.

Last but not least, the group’s Board approved a 220 million dollars capital expenditure program for 2015, maintaining the strong level of investment in the business that the Company initiated in 2013.

"The Company sees opportunities for continued growth in the coming years through this additional deployment of capital," said Richard Johnson, President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Our Board has shown it is confident that Foot Locker, Inc. has the financial resources to increase returns to shareholders --- as evidenced by five straight years of double-digit percentage increases in our dividend rate and the third significant increase to our share repurchase program in the last three years --- at the same time that we continue to invest directly in our business to seize opportunities to elevate our operational and financial performance."