FairPoint Communications 2004 Annual Report Download - page 24

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Our common stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "FRP" on February 4, 2005. Prior to that time,
there was no trading market for our common stock. The high trading price for our common stock during the period from February 4, 2005 to
March 22, 2005 was $18.55 per share. The low trading price for our common stock during the period from February 4, 2005 to March 22,
2005 was $15.55 per share.
On March 3, 2005, we declared a dividend of $0.22543 per share of our common stock, payable on April 15, 2005 to holders of record as
of March 31, 2005. This dividend represents a partial-quarter proration (for the period from February 8, 2005 to March 31, 2005) of the
indicated annual dividend of $1.59125 per share. For an explanation of our dividend policy, see "—Dividend Policy and Restrictions" below.
As of March 15, 2005, there were approximately 88 holders of record of our common stock.
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General
Our board of directors has adopted a dividend policy under which a substantial portion of the cash generated by our business in excess of
operating needs, interest and principal payments on our indebtedness, dividends on our future senior classes of capital stock, if any, capital
expenditures, taxes and future reserves, if any, would in general be distributed as regular quarterly dividend payments to the holders of our
common stock, rather than retained by us and used for other purposes, including to finance growth opportunities. This policy reflects our
judgment that our stockholders would be better served if we distributed to them such substantial portion of the excess cash generated by our
business instead of retaining it in our business. However, as described more fully below, our stockholders may not receive any dividends as
a result of the following factors:
•nothing requires us to pay dividends;
•while our current dividend policy contemplates the distribution of a substantial portion of our cash in excess of operating needs,
interest and principal payments on our indebtedness, dividends on our future senior classes of capital stock, if any, capital
expenditures, taxes and future reserves, if any, this policy could be modified or revoked by our board of directors at any time;
•even if our dividend policy was not modified or revoked, the actual amount of dividends distributed under this policy and the
decision to make any distributions are entirely at the discretion of our board of directors;
•the amount of dividends distributed is subject to covenant restrictions under our credit facility;
•the amount of dividends distributed is subject to restrictions under Delaware law;
•our stockholders have no contractual or other legal right to receive dividends; and
•we may not have enough cash to pay dividends due to changes in our cash from operations, distributions we receive from
minority investments and passive partnership interests, working capital requirements and/or anticipated cash needs.
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