BRIEF: Cato to issue special dividend before fiscal cliff 

BRIEF: Cato to issue special dividend before fiscal cliff

Dec 03, 2012 (Menafn - The Charlotte Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Charlotte-based Cato Corp. announced Monday that it will pay its stockholders a special 1-per-share dividend this month in advance of the tax increases and economic uncertainty possible as part of the "fiscal cliff" next year.

The apparel retailer also will pay all of its scheduled 2013 dividends before the end of this year, bringing the total payment to 2.25 per share on Dec. 28.

"Given the very unusual circumstances of the fiscal cliff and uncertainty of the federal tax treatment of dividends, paying both a special dividend and our 2013 dividend now is in the best interest of our long-term shareholders," CEO John Cato said in a statement.

Cato had already moved payment of its regular 25-cent dividend up by a week so it would fall before 2013, joining a number of companies seeking to pay stockholders before the automatic tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.

Congress is currently negotiating a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. But even should a deal be reached, an increase in the taxes on dividends is a real possibility.

Cato stock was up about 4 percent, to 30.20, at 2 p.m. Monday.

Dunn: 704-358-5235 Twitter: @andrew_dunn

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