BANGOR – Merrill Merchants Bancshares Inc., parent company of Merrill Merchants Bank, has declared a cash dividend of $0.11 per share on the company’s common stock. The amount represents an increase of 22 percent, or $.02 per share, over last year’s fourth-quarter dividend, according to Edwin N. Clift, president and chief executive officer. The dividend will be payable to all shareholders of record as of Jan. 15, 2003, and will be paid Jan. 31.

Merrill Merchants Bank, which is headquartered in Bangor, provides consumer, commercial, and trust and investment services through 11 locations in central and eastern Maine. The company’s stocks are traded on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol MERB.