MYG Nets Ftse Cnbc 300

Maytag Declares Quarterly Dividend NEWTON, Iowa, May 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Maytag Corporation (NYSE:MYG) board of directors today declared a quarterly dividend of 9 cents a share on the firm's common stock. The quarterly dividend is payable June 15, 2005, to shareowners of record at the close of business June 1, 2005. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000505/MYGLOGO ) Maytag Chairman and CEO Ralph Hake said, "Today's decision by the board to immediately reduce the dividend by 50 percent should allow the company more financial flexibility to fund our restructuring plan and to have additional cash available for debt reduction and pension funding. Also, the additional cash will be invested in our business as we step up our advertising and R&D expenses in the second half of 2005 with the many new product introductions that are planned. "The decision to reduce the dividend was not taken lightly," Hake noted. "The board understands the importance of the dividend to our shareholders; however, it is essential that our dividend payout is more in line with current earnings trends." Hake explained that over the balance of this year, Maytag will be finalizing its plan to restructure certain manufacturing operations and determining the investments necessary to support these initiatives. "These actions may require asset write-offs and accelerated depreciation as well as cash costs and investments," he said. "We are currently seeking a new credit agreement that will provide us substantially more covenant flexibility and funding stability to meet our financing requirements. We have received financing commitments from banks for multi-year credit facilities and expect to replace our current agreement with a new facility during the second quarter 2005." Maytag Corporation is a leading producer of home and commercial appliances. Its products are sold to customers throughout North America and in international markets. The corporation's principal brands include Maytag(R), Hoover(R), Jenn-Air(R), Amana(R), Dixie-Narco(R) and Jade(R). Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this news release, including any discussion of management expectations for future periods, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the future results expressed or implied by those statements. For a description of such factors, refer to "Forward-Looking Statements" in the Management's Discussion and Analysis section of Maytag's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended January 1, 2005, and each quarter's 10-Q. http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000505/MYGLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Maytag Corporation CONTACT: Media, John Daggett of Maytag Corporate Communications, +1-641-787-7711, Web site: http://www.maytagcorp.com/

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