11:07 AM EST - Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. : is raising its quarterly dividends by 33 percent after posting fourth-quarter profits of $133 million, up 15 percent from a year-ago $115 million. That amounted to 61 cents per share diluted, up from 53 cents per share a year earlier. The drug store chain said its sales for the October-December period were $2.02 billion, up 10 percent from $1.83 billion in the final quarter of 2005. Same-store sales, sales at stores open at least a year, increased 6.5 percent. The dividend will rise to 16 cents per share, payable April 13 to shareholders of record on March 30 for an annual payout of 64 cents per common share. For the full year, Shoppers said its profit was $422 million, $1.95 per share diluted, compared with $364 million or $1.69 per share. Shoppers Drug Mart Corp.
shares T.SC are trading up 26 cents at $50.52.
