03:43 PM EST - Empire Company Limited : announced that its fourth-quarter net earnings were $63.6 million or $0.96 per share, compared to $66.5 million or $1.01 per share in the year-ago quarter. Empire posted earnings before capital gains and other items of $64.4 million or $0.97 per share, compared to $73.6 million or $1.12 per share last year. Consolidated revenues for the fourth quarter were $3.71 billion, up 4.2 per cent from $3.56 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company said that its board declared a quarterly dividend of 18.5 cents per share on both the Non-Voting Class A shares and the Class B common shares that will be payable on July 31, 2009 to shareholders of record on July 15, 2009. Empire Company Limited
shares T.EMP.A are trading down $0.93 at $45.39.
