Mexico: FEMSA Stockholders approve dividend increase

Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A. de C.V. (FEMSA), held its Annual General Ordinary Stockholders Meeting on March 10, at which shareholders approved the annual report for 2005 presented by the Board of Directors, the consolidated financial statements for 2005, the declaration of the dividend corresponding to fiscal year 2005, and the composition of the Board of Directors for 2006.

The stockholders approved the payment of a dividend for an amount of 986 million pesos, versus 660 million pesos last year.

The dividend will be paid on June 15, 2006, upon submittal of Coupon Number 1, as follows: 0.147514 pesos for each Series B share and 0.184393 pesos for each Series D share. This corresponds to actual dividend payments of 0.885085 pesos for each BD Unit and 0.737571 pesos for each B Unit. Therefore, each ADR (NYSE:FMX) will receive a dividend payment of 8.85 pesos.

In addition, stockholders approved 3,000 million pesos as the maximum amount that could potentially be used in stock repurchases, as per Mexican legislation.

José Antonio Fernández Carbajal, Chairman and CEO of FEMSA, commented, “In 2005 we reinforced our position as one of the world's leading integrated beverage companies. During the year we leveraged our strengths to generate important advances in our industry, lifting standards in market execution and brand management and furthering our business integration.”

“These great results were made possible thanks to the talent, creativity, discipline and hard work of the more than 90 thousand men and women that form part of the FEMSA family”, concluded José Antonio Fernández.

FEMSA is the leading beverage company in Latin America. It controls an integrated beverage platform that comprises Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest Coca-Cola bottler in the region; FEMSA Cerveza, one of the leading brewers in Mexico and important beer exporter to the United States; and Oxxo, the largest and fastest growing convenience store chain in Mexico with over 4,000 stores.

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