Pricesmart To Increase Dividends By 7% Appoints Former Costco Executive To Board

San Diego, California-based warehouse club retailer PriceSmart (NASDAQ: PSMT), announced on Friday that the company would increase its annual cash dividend by 7.0%, and appoint a new board director for the company.

The company’s board of directors decided on an annual cash dividend of $0.92 USD per share, which will be paid to the shareholders at the price of $0.46 per share on two separate dates this year, February 16 and August 15. The company also believes that they will be able to continue this semi-annual cash dividend payment in future periods, barring any “uncertain macroeconomic conditions” on the company.

“Driven by the strength of our business and cash flows from operations, the board of directors has increased the annual dividend by approximately 7.0%. We remain focused on accelerating our investments to drive growth, and we believe that our increase in the dividend reflects the board’s confidence in our club business model,” PriceSmart’s Interim Chief Executive Officer Robert Price commented. Robert Price founded PriceSmart with his father Sol Price, after the elder Price sold his chain of warehouse clubs to Costco in 1993.

After CEO Sherry Bahrambeygui resigned as CEO (but continues to serve on the board), board member and founding family member Robert Price stepped in as interim CEO. “I am excited to be re-engaging in the company’s day-to-day affairs again as the Interim Chief Executive Officer. I will not be receiving compensation in my role as Interim CEO, and I am looking forward to working with the other officers and leaders of the company to execute on our three major drivers of growth as we strive to improve the lives and businesses of our members, our employees and our communities through the responsible delivery of the best quality goods and services at the lowest possible price,” said Price.

The company’s annual shareholders meeting also ended up electing ten nominees for the open seats in PriceSmart’s board of directors. Sherry S. Bahrambeygui, Jeffrey R. Fisher, Gordon H. Hanson, Beatriz V. Infante, Leon C. Janks, Patricia Márquez, David N. Price, Robert E. Price, David R. Snyder, and Edgar Zurcher were elected as new board members.

After the annual shareholders meeting, the new board of directors expanded the number of seats from ten to eleven, and elected John D. Thelan to the newly created seat. Thelan recently retired from his position as Senior Vice President, Depots and Traffic of Costco Wholesale Corporation, a position he held since 1992.

“Additionally, I am excited to welcome John Thelan to the Board of Directors.  John’s extensive warehouse club experience at Costco, his expertise with operations and logistics and his experience with real estate transactions will be very beneficial to the Board and the operation of our clubs,” said Price.

Stockholders did not approve the compensation of the company’s executive officers for fiscal year 2022, but did approve an amendment to the company’s amended and restated 2013 Equity Incentive Award Plan to increase the number of shares of common stock available for the grant of awards by 750,000 shares and ratified the selection of Ernst & Young, LLP as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2023.