Merrill Merchants parent declares dividend

BANGOR — Merrill Merchants Bancshares Inc., the parent company of Merrill Merchants Bank, has declared a cash dividend of 5 cents per share on the company’s common stock for the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30. The dividend will be payable to all shareholders of record as of Nov. 30, and will be paid Dec. 15. This dividend represents an increase of 67 percent over the company’s last quarterly dividend of 3 cents paid Sept. 15.

Edwin N. Clift, president and chief executive officer of Merrill Merchants Bancshares, stated that the substantial increase in the company’s dividend resulted from the company’s strong earnings for the first nine months of 1998, which increased 38 percent from the same period a year ago.

The company’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ stock market under the symbol MERB. The company’s subsidiary, Merrill Merchants Bank, is headquartered in Bangor, and provides consumer, commercial and trust and investment banking services to the central and eastern Maine area. As of Sept. 30, the company had total assets of $189.5 million. The bank is designated a “preferred lender” by the Small Business Administration.