Mergent, Inc. Announces Dividend Achievers Index Family Total Returns for 2Q 2006
New York, NY, July 27, 2006 – Mergent, Inc., a leading provider of dividend and custom indices, today announced total returns for its Dividend Achievers™ Index Family for the six months ending June 30.
During the quarter Mergent added two new licensed products to its offering of dividend-focused investment products. In April The Vanguard Group launched the exchange-traded fund Vanguard Dividend Appreciation VIPERs (VIG) and the open-end mutual fund Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund investor shares (VDAIX). Mergent’s Dividend Achievers™ Select Index serves as the benchmark index for these two products and is calculated daily by the American Stock Exchange under the ticker “DVG”. On June 30 there was over $100 million in assets under management in these two products.
In May National Bank of Canada launched the First Asset Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Note, the first retail note benchmarked to Mergent’s Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Index. The 8.5 year capital-protected note pays 100% of the upside of Mergent’s Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Index.
"This has been another landmark quarter for Mergent’s Dividend Achievers,” said Jonathan Worrall, CEO of Mergent. “In addition to the strong set of returns posted by our Index Family, we have bolstered our product offering during the period, responding to the continued appetite for dividend-focused investing by partnering with Vanguard and National Bank of Canada to create innovative new investment products.”
About Mergent’s Dividend Achievers
A powerful tool for investors seeking a long-term portfolio of higher risk-adjusted returns, Mergent’s Dividend Achievers are companies that have increased their annual regular dividends for at least the past 10 consecutive years and have met specific liquidity screening criteria. The Dividend Achievers are typically companies with strong cash reserves, solid balance sheets and a proven record of consistent earnings growth. Mergent has been identifying these strong dividend-paying companies for more than 25 years.
The complete list of 2006 Dividend Achievers is available at www.dividendachievers.com. Mergent's Dividend Achievers Handbook, published quarterly by John Wiley & Sons, provides corporate information and financial data on all of the U.S. and Canadian Dividend Achievers companies, as well as a wide range of supplementary rankings.
About Mergent
Mergent, Inc., a Xinhua Finance company (TSE Mothers: 9399; OTC ADRs: XHFNY) is the preferred provider of business and financial data on global publicly listed companies. Currently headquartered in Charlotte, NC and New York City, with sales offices in key North American cities, Mergent also has a strong global presence, with offices in London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney. Mergent’s databases contain detailed equity, debt and corporate action information on over 15,000 U.S. public companies, 20,000 non-U.S. public companies and all U.S. municipal bonds.
For more than a century Mergent has been providing solutions to clients in the investment management, academic, research and corporate information fields. Today, that unique experience is combined with leading-edge technology to form a robust, diverse product line that operates under Mergent’s umbrella. These include; Mergent’s Dividend Achievers Indices – the premier benchmark for long-term returns; Ford Equity Research – a leading independent investment research firm; Mergent Online – a powerful web-based research portal that provides critical business information to support daily research and analysis; Mergent Manuals, Handbooks and Investment Guides; in-depth municipal and corporate fixed-income data, as well as end-of-day evaluation pricing; EventsData – providing real-time information on corporate actions, dividend payouts, news and updates directly to clients desktops. For more information, visit our websites, http://www.mergent.com/ and www.dividendachievers.com
Contact Samantha Dumas:
Taylor Rafferty
205 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 889-4350
Mergent Contact:
Shirley Petersen
Vice President, Index Licensing
Mergent, Inc.
60 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
212) 413-7751
About Xinhua Finance Limited
Xinhua Finance Limited is China’s unchallenged leader in financial information and media, and is listed on the Mothers board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (symbol: 9399) (OTC ADRs: XHFNY). Bridging China’s financial markets and the world, Xinhua Finance serves financial institutions, corporations and re-distributors through four focused and complementary service lines: Indices, Ratings, Financial News and Investor Relations. Founded in November 1999, the Company is headquartered in Shanghai with 20 news bureaus and offices in 19 locations across Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. For more information, please visit www.xinhuafinance.com.
New York, NY, July 27, 2006 – Mergent, Inc., a leading provider of dividend and custom indices, today announced total returns for its Dividend Achievers™ Index Family for the six months ending June 30.
During the quarter Mergent added two new licensed products to its offering of dividend-focused investment products. In April The Vanguard Group launched the exchange-traded fund Vanguard Dividend Appreciation VIPERs (VIG) and the open-end mutual fund Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index Fund investor shares (VDAIX). Mergent’s Dividend Achievers™ Select Index serves as the benchmark index for these two products and is calculated daily by the American Stock Exchange under the ticker “DVG”. On June 30 there was over $100 million in assets under management in these two products.
In May National Bank of Canada launched the First Asset Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Note, the first retail note benchmarked to Mergent’s Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Index. The 8.5 year capital-protected note pays 100% of the upside of Mergent’s Canadian Dividend Achievers™ Index.
"This has been another landmark quarter for Mergent’s Dividend Achievers,” said Jonathan Worrall, CEO of Mergent. “In addition to the strong set of returns posted by our Index Family, we have bolstered our product offering during the period, responding to the continued appetite for dividend-focused investing by partnering with Vanguard and National Bank of Canada to create innovative new investment products.”
About Mergent’s Dividend Achievers
A powerful tool for investors seeking a long-term portfolio of higher risk-adjusted returns, Mergent’s Dividend Achievers are companies that have increased their annual regular dividends for at least the past 10 consecutive years and have met specific liquidity screening criteria. The Dividend Achievers are typically companies with strong cash reserves, solid balance sheets and a proven record of consistent earnings growth. Mergent has been identifying these strong dividend-paying companies for more than 25 years.
The complete list of 2006 Dividend Achievers is available at www.dividendachievers.com. Mergent's Dividend Achievers Handbook, published quarterly by John Wiley & Sons, provides corporate information and financial data on all of the U.S. and Canadian Dividend Achievers companies, as well as a wide range of supplementary rankings.
About Mergent
Mergent, Inc., a Xinhua Finance company (TSE Mothers: 9399; OTC ADRs: XHFNY) is the preferred provider of business and financial data on global publicly listed companies. Currently headquartered in Charlotte, NC and New York City, with sales offices in key North American cities, Mergent also has a strong global presence, with offices in London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Toronto and Sydney. Mergent’s databases contain detailed equity, debt and corporate action information on over 15,000 U.S. public companies, 20,000 non-U.S. public companies and all U.S. municipal bonds.
For more than a century Mergent has been providing solutions to clients in the investment management, academic, research and corporate information fields. Today, that unique experience is combined with leading-edge technology to form a robust, diverse product line that operates under Mergent’s umbrella. These include; Mergent’s Dividend Achievers Indices – the premier benchmark for long-term returns; Ford Equity Research – a leading independent investment research firm; Mergent Online – a powerful web-based research portal that provides critical business information to support daily research and analysis; Mergent Manuals, Handbooks and Investment Guides; in-depth municipal and corporate fixed-income data, as well as end-of-day evaluation pricing; EventsData – providing real-time information on corporate actions, dividend payouts, news and updates directly to clients desktops. For more information, visit our websites, http://www.mergent.com/ and www.dividendachievers.com
Contact Samantha Dumas:
Taylor Rafferty
205 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10016
(212) 889-4350
Mergent Contact:
Shirley Petersen
Vice President, Index Licensing
Mergent, Inc.
60 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
212) 413-7751
About Xinhua Finance Limited
Xinhua Finance Limited is China’s unchallenged leader in financial information and media, and is listed on the Mothers board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange (symbol: 9399) (OTC ADRs: XHFNY). Bridging China’s financial markets and the world, Xinhua Finance serves financial institutions, corporations and re-distributors through four focused and complementary service lines: Indices, Ratings, Financial News and Investor Relations. Founded in November 1999, the Company is headquartered in Shanghai with 20 news bureaus and offices in 19 locations across Asia, Australia, North America and Europe. For more information, please visit www.xinhuafinance.com.
