SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First BanCorp today announced that the Board of Directors has declared the next payment of dividends on Common, Series A through E Preferred and Trust Preferred I & II shares. Common stockholders of record as of March 15, 2007 will receive the 47th consecutive quarterly dividend payment declared by First BanCorp's Board of Directors, in the amount of $0.07 per share for the 1st Quarter of 2007, payable on March 30, 2007.
The estimated dividend amounts per share, record dates and payment dates for the Series A through E Preferred Shares are:
Series $Per/share Record Date Payment Date A 0.1484375 March 29, 2007 April 2, 2007 B 0.17395833 March 15, 2007 April 2, 2007 C 0.1541666 March 15, 2007 April 2, 2007 D 0.15104166 March 15, 2007 April 2, 2007 E 0.14583333 March 15, 2007 April 2, 2007
Approval was obtained as a part of First BanCorp's previously announced agreement with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
About First BanCorp
First BanCorp is the parent corporation of FirstBank Puerto Rico, a state-chartered commercial bank with operations in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Florida; of FirstBank Insurance Agency; and of Ponce General Corporation. First BanCorp, FirstBank Puerto Rico and FirstBank Florida, formerly UniBank, the thrift subsidiary of Ponce General, all operate within U.S. banking laws and regulations. The Corporation operates a total of 153 financial services facilities throughout Puerto Rico, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, and Florida. Among the subsidiaries of FirstBank Puerto Rico are Money Express, a finance company; First Leasing and Car Rental, a car and truck rental leasing company; and FirstMortgage, a mortgage origination company. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, FirstBank operates First Insurance VI, an insurance agency; First Trade, Inc., a foreign corporation management company; and First Express, a small loan company. First BanCorp's common and preferred shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange, under the symbols FBP, FBPPrA, FBPPrB, FBPPrC, FBPPrD and FBPPrE.
Safe Harbor
The Corporation wishes to caution readers not to place undue reliance on any such "forward-looking statements," which speak only as of the date made, and to advise readers that various factors, including the completion of the sale of shares of common stock to Scotiabank, First BanCorp's ability to return to compliance with the reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the ability to settle the shareholder litigation and SEC inquiry relating to First BanCorp's recent restatement of its financial statements, the interest rate risk relating to the secured loans to Doral and R&G Financial, the continued repayment by Doral and R&G Financial of their outstanding loans, the impact on net income of the reduction in net interest income resulting from the repayment of a significant amount of the commercial loans to Doral, the impact of the cease and desist orders entered into with the regulators on the Corporation's future operations and results, the Corporation's ability to continue to implement the terms of the consent orders, FirstBank's ability to issue brokered certificates of deposit, its liquidity, the impact of the Corporation's restated and more current financial statements on customers and lenders, the ability to fund operations, changes in the interest rate environment, including the impact on the Corporation's financial statements for periods prior to April 3, 2006 of changes in the value of interest rate swaps resulting from changes in interest rates, regional and national economic conditions, competitive and regulatory factors and legislative changes, could affect the Corporation's financial performance and could cause the Corporation's actual results for future periods to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. The Corporation does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any "forward- looking statements" to reflect occurrences or unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statements.
