CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) today declared its annual variable dividend, amounting to $1.30 per share. The dividend is payable December 28, 2012, to shareholders of record December 17, 2012. When CME Group adopted its annual variable dividend structure in February 2012, the intention was to determine the amount after the end of each year, with the level to increase or decrease from year to year based on operating results, potential investment activity, and other forms of capital return including regular dividends and share buybacks during the prior year. Because of uncertainty regarding future taxation of dividends, CME Group's board of directors has accelerated the timing of this dividend – which would have been paid in first-quarter 2013 – into the fourth quarter of 2012 in order to maximize the after-tax value to its shareholders.
CME Group paid its first annual variable dividend in March 2012, in the amount of $0.60 per share on a post-split basis.
The accelerated annual variable dividend is supplemental to the regular quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share payable December 26, 2012, to shareholders of record December 10, 2012. In total during calendar year 2012, considering four quarterly dividends and two variable annual dividends, the company will have returned $3.69 per share to shareholders.