MIAMI, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Board of Directors of Ryder System, Inc. , a global leader in transportation and supply chain management solutions, today declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.18 per share of common stock, to be paid on March 17, 2006, to shareholders of record on February 20, 2006. The dividend reflects a $0.02 increase from the $0.16 cash dividend Ryder had been paying quarterly since March 18, 2005. This is Ryder's 118th consecutive quarterly cash dividend -- marking more than 29 years of dividend payments.
"Ryder's management team and board of directors are committed to delivering continued strong earnings growth and enhanced value to our shareholders," said Ryder Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Greg Swienton. "This dividend increase reflects our confidence in Ryder's ability to deliver increasing levels of profitable growth over the long term."
About Ryder
Ryder provides leading-edge transportation, logistics and supply chain management solutions worldwide. Ryder's product offerings range from full service leasing, commercial rental and programmed maintenance of vehicles to integrated services such as dedicated contract carriage and carrier management. Additionally, Ryder offers comprehensive supply chain solutions, consulting, lead logistics management services and e-Business solutions that support customers' entire supply chains, from inbound raw materials and parts through distribution and delivery of finished goods. Ryder serves customer needs throughout North America, in Latin America, Europe and Asia.
The National Safety Council selected Ryder to receive the 2002 Green Cross for Safety Medal -- its highest honor -- for exemplary commitment to workplace safety and corporate citizenship. For the ninth consecutive year, Ryder was featured in the 2005 Fortune Most Admired Companies survey of corporate reputations. InternetWeek named Ryder as one of the top 100 U.S. companies for effectiveness in using the Internet to achieve tangible business benefits. For the eighth consecutive year, Ryder has been named a top five third-party logistics provider by Inbound Logistics.
Ryder's stock is a component of the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Ryder ranks 381st on the Fortune 500.
For more information on Ryder System, Inc., visit http://www.ryder.com/ .
Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements and information included in this press release are "forward-looking statements" under the Federal Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Accordingly, these forward-looking statements should be evaluated with consideration given to the many risks and uncertainties inherent in our business that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, among others, our ability to obtain adequate profit margins for our services, our inability to maintain current pricing levels due to customer acceptance or competition, customer retention levels, unexpected volume declines, loss of key customers in the Supply Chain Solutions (SCS) business segment, unexpected reserves or write-offs due to the deterioration of the credit worthiness or bankruptcy of certain customers in our SCS business segment, changes in financial, tax or regulatory requirements or changes in customers' business environments that limit their ability to commit to long-term vehicle leases, changes in market conditions affecting the commercial rental market or the sale of used vehicles, labor strikes or work stoppages affecting our or our customers' business operations, adequacy of accounting estimates and accruals, changes in general economic conditions, sudden changes in fuel prices, availability of qualified drivers, our ability to manage our cost structure, changes in government regulations, including regulations regarding vehicle emissions and risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risks included here are not exhaustive. New risks emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors or to assess the impact of such risks on our business. Accordingly, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
