Imperial Oil Increases Share Repurchase Program

(RTTNews) - Imperial Oil Ltd. (IMO, IMO.TO) announced it has received final acceptance from the Toronto Stock Exchange to amend its normal course issuer bid or NCIB to increase the number of common shares that it may repurchase.

Under the amendment, the number of common shares that may be repurchased will increase from up to three percent to up to five percent of its 846.53 million outstanding common shares as of June 13, 2017, or a maximum of 42.33 million shares during the 12-month period from June 27, 2017 to June 26, 2018. This amended maximum will be reduced by the number of shares purchased from Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil), Imperial's majority shareholder. No other terms of the NCIB have been amended.

Purchases under the amended NCIB are eligible to begin on May 2, 2018. The NCIB will end should the company purchase the maximum allowable number of shares, or on June 26, 2018.

ExxonMobil will be permitted to sell its shares to Imperial outside of, but concurrent with, the NCIB in order to maintain its proportionate share ownership at approximately 69.6 percent. ExxonMobil advised Imperial that it intends to participate, as it has in prior years.

Under its current NCIB, as of April 26, 2018, Imperial has purchased 6.37 million shares on the open market and a corresponding 14,582,359 shares from ExxonMobil to maintain its proportionate share ownership at 69.6 percent, representing a total cost of about $773 million and an average cost of $36.90 per share.

Separately, Imperial Oil Limited declared a quarterly dividend of 19 cents per share on the outstanding common shares of the company, payable on July 1, 2018, to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 1, 2018. This second quarter 2018 dividend compares with the first quarter 2018 dividend of 16 cents per share.