Logitech to Request 78-cent Dividend Payment

Logitech (LOGI) announced late Monday that it will ask its shareholders to accept a one-time dividend payout of about 78 cents per share (not to exceed $128.6M total value), or about 7.4 percent of current stock price, when the company holds its annual general meeting Sept.  in Lausanne, Switzerland.

With the news, announced in the final moments of the U.S, trading day, Logitech stock spiked and closed up 4.3 percent to $10.53 per share after hovering below its $10.10 Friday closing price virtually all day.  If approved by the stockholders, the dividend would be paid out around Sept. 18 and would be based on the record date of Sept. 17, according the press release.

“Historically, we rewarded our shareholders with strong financial performance and growth in our share price,” said Guerrino De Luca, chairman and chief executive officer, in a press release from the company. ‘In FY 2012, we delivered poor financial performance and our share price declined significantly. In view of this, we determined that we could best reward our shareholders by taking advantage of our strong cash position to offer a one-time distribution that is not subject to Swiss withholding tax for any of our shareholders.”

Logitech is not well-invested by hedge funds, but  Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Chuck Royce’s Royce & Associates likely saw a very quick boost in their values with this news. Royce was invested $4.8 million at the end of March, while Citadel was in for about $1.1 million at the end of the first calendar quarter.