Boston, MA 05\/30\/2014 (wallstreetpr) \u2013\u00a0Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)\u2019s<\/b> Board updated the plan to return capital to its shareholders. It includes 50% increase in dividend to $0.09 per share and share repurchase program of $2 billion by the end of 2016. So, the Company expects to return and additional $2.75 billion to its shareholders by 2016.<\/p>\n
As per the previous plan, Delta will return $700 million to its shareholders by June 2014, which includes dividend of $200 million and share repurchase of $500 million.<\/p>\n
Factors to drive strong cash flow<\/b><\/p>\n
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) <\/b>intends to generate strong cash flows by strengthening the financial position through debt and reduction in pension obligations that will help the\u00a0airline\u00a0to return considerable amounts to its shareholders.<\/p>\n
Factor 1: <\/i><\/p>\n
Delta continues to reduce the debt so to reduce the cash outflows related to external funding so that Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) <\/b>has sufficient cash flows to return to its shareholders. As of march 31, 2014, Delta has adjusted net debt of $9.1 billion and the Company expects to reduce the adjusted net debt further to $7 billion by 2015 and $5 billion by 2016<\/p>\n
Factor 2:<\/i><\/p>\n
Similarly, Delta contributed ~$1 billion each year towards pension benefit plans in 2013 and 2014 and reduced the pension liability by 25%. Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) <\/b>continues to maintain a level of funding $1 billion till 2020 so to reduce 80% of total pension liability and avail more cash for distribution.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n
As of now, Delta and its subsidiary Delta Connection carriers together operates with more than 700 aircrafts and offer services to ~370 destinations across six continents. The airline serves ~165 million customers per year annually.<\/p>\n
Delta continues to produce positive growth in profitability and cash flow performance while investing more on expansion, including destinations, as well as fleet size.<\/p>\n
In addition, Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) <\/b>intends to strengthen the balance sheet to make the fund available for the investment and drive to become a high performing airline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boston, MA 05\/30\/2014 (wallstreetpr) \u2013\u00a0Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL)\u2019s Board updated the plan to return capital to its shareholders. It includes 50% increase in dividend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":19692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[2236],"tags":[3286,1459],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-24030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-delta-air-lines-inc-nysedal","tag-nysedal","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n