Crane Co. Updates 2018 Guidance; Announces 6% Dividend Increase

(RTTNews) - Crane Co. (CR) announced the company now expects 2018 GAAP EPS of $4.65-$4.85. Excluding special items, the company expects 2018 EPS of $5.35-$5.55. The guidance assumes core sales growth of 2% to 4%, a modest benefit from favorable foreign exchange, and approximately $400 million of sales contribution from the Crane Currency acquisition. The company noted that its guidance now includes the impact of the Crane Currency acquisition, the impacts of the 2017 U.S. tax reform legislation, a new repositioning program, and expenses associated with acceleration of growth investments enabled by tax reform. On December 5, 2017, Crane Co. introduced preliminary 2018 earnings guidance of $4.85-$5.05 per share, excluding any potential impact from the then-pending Crane Currency acquisition.

Crane Co. also announced its Board declared a 6% increase in its quarterly dividend, to $0.35 per share from $0.33 per share. The dividend is payable on March 9, 2018 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 28, 2018. The indicated annual dividend rate will now be $1.40 per share.