NEW YORK (Reuters) -
Schering-Plough Corp. Tuesday said it cut its quarterly dividend to 5.5 cents a share from 17 cents, the first reduction in the drugmaker's dividend since the company was formed through a merger in 1971.
The Kenilworth, N.J.-based company announced in August it would confront a cash crunch by cutting at least 1,000 jobs and cutting the quarterly dividend by 68 percent. Its previous dividend, paid on June 24, was 17 cents per share of common stock.
"Company records going back to 1971 do not reflect any previous reduction in the dividend," a company spokeswoman said. That is the year that Schering-Plough was formed through the merger of Schering Corp. and Plough Inc.
The company said the payment will be made on November 26 to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 7. There were almost 1.47 billion shares of common stock outstanding as of September 30.
The drugmaker's shares are trading at near a seven-year low as it battles a number of problems, including evaporating sales of its Claritin allergy drug due to the lapse late last year of the medicine's U.S. patent.
Meanwhile, sales of the company's biggest current product line -- two drugs to treat hepatitis C -- have fallen following the U.S. launch early this year of Swiss rival Roche AG's similar but less-expensive drugs.
Schering-Plough (SGP: down $0.18 to $15.05, Research, Estimates) lost $265 million in the third quarter, as its sales fell and it increased its reserves for litigation related to government investigations of its sales and marketing practices.
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