United-Guardian (UG) will cut its semi-annual dividend from $0.55 to $0.42 per share in 2020. The company had paid a dividend of 55 cents three times in the last 18 months.

The next dividend will be paid on June 17, 2020 to all stockholders of record on June 3, 2020. Based on the previous dividend of 55 cents and a new annualized rate of 97 cents the dividend yield is 6.4% at a stock price of $15.10.

Ken Globus, President of United-Guardian, stated, “We are pleased to announce that on June 17th we will be paying a dividend of $0.42 a share to all stockholders of record as of June 3rd.  While many dividend-paying companies have decided not to pay dividends during the Covid-19 pandemic, we have always taken the position that whenever we are in a financial position to do so, we would share our profitability with our shareholders. Our company has been fortunate enough to have been able to continue production and sales during this pandemic, and sales in the first quarter of the year, as well as in April, were strong. While it is always our preference to try to maintain the dividend level of the previous year, the Board felt that in this difficult year, with our expectation that it is likely that we will experience a temporary decline in sales over the next few months, the prudent course was to reduce the mid-year dividend, with the hope that if the second half of the year is strong we might be able to increase it. We are optimistic that sales of our pharmaceutical and medical products will remain strong, and that sales of our cosmetic ingredients will gradually increase as consumer demand for cosmetic products increases. Taking all of these factors into consideration, the Board of Directors concluded it would be in the best interests of both the company and its shareholders to pay this dividend.”

United-Guardian is a manufacturer of cosmetic ingredients, personal and health care products, pharmaceuticals, and specialty industrial products. The products are sold directly to marketing partners, which in turn resell those products to its customers for use in the manufacture or compounding of the customers' personal care and cosmetic products.