NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING ANNOUNCES
$100 MILLION SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAM AND
REGULAR DIVIDEND
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., February 1, 2001
– Newport News Shipbuilding (NYSE: NNS) announced today
that its Board of Directors has approved a $100 million
share repurchase program. This authorization is a follow-on
to prior authorizations under which the company successfully
repurchased approximately 5.6 million shares since mid
1999. The new authorization will be implemented through
open market and privately negotiated transactions.
"Over the next several years,
we expect to generate a significant amount of free cash
flow," said William P. Fricks, Chairman and Chief
Executive Officer. "This latest authorization will
allow us the flexibility to opportunistically buy back
our shares. We’ll closely manage the cash deployment
to ensure that it is accretive and represents the best
ongoing value for our shareholders."
In addition to the repurchase program,
the Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.04
per share on the issued and outstanding common stock
of the company. The dividend will be paid on or about
February 22, 2001 to shareholders of record as of February
12, 2001. This is the seventeenth consecutive regular
dividend declared since Newport News became an independent
company in December 1996.
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Newport News Shipbuilding designs and
constructs nuclear powered aircraft carriers and submarines
for the U.S. Navy and provides lifecycle maintenance
services for ships in the Navy fleet. The Company employs
17,000 people, and has annual revenues of approximately
$2 billion.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR PURPOSES
OF "SAFE HARBOR" PROVISIONS OF THE PRIVATE
SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
This news release contains forward-looking statements
concerning, among other things, the Company’s prospects,
expectations and business objectives and strategies.
These forward-looking statements are identified by terms
and phrases such as "expects", "will"
and "ensure". Readers are cautioned that these
statements are based on assumptions that are subject
to risks and uncertainties. No assurance can be given
that the Company’s actual results will not differ materially
from the results discussed in these statements. Factors
that might cause such a difference include, but that
are not limited to, those discussed in the Company’s
1999 Annual Report to Stockholders and in Item 1 of
the Company’s 1999 Annual Report on Form 10-K (under
the caption "Government Contracting, Claims and
Investigations"), and in Note 13 ("Commitments
and Contingencies - Government Contracting and – Significant
Estimates") and Note 3("Commitments and Contingencies
– Government Contracting") to the Consolidated
Financial Statements of the Company contained in its
1999 Form 10-K and third quarter 1999 Form 10-Q, respectively.
