RPM International Inc. announced at its annual meeting of stockholders that its board of directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.205 per share, payable on October 30, 2009, to stockholders of record as of October 19, 2009. This payment represents a 2.5% increase over the $0.20 quarterly cash dividend paid at this time last year.

This action marks RPM’s 36th consecutive year of increased cash dividends paid to its stockholders, which places RPM in an elite category of less than half of one percent of all 19,000 publicly traded U.S. companies. Only 56 other companies, besides RPM, have consecutively paid an increasing annual dividend for this period of time or longer, according to the 2010 edition of America’s Finest Companies.  At a share price of $18.25, RPM's dividend yield would be 4.5%.

“Annually increasing our dividend is a long-standing RPM trademark of which we’re very proud. Given current uncertain economic conditions, we’re pleased that our strong cash flow has allowed us to continue this practice and deliver stockholders a positive cash return on their investment,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frank C. Sullivan. “As highlighted in our 2009 annual report, for the five-year and ten-year periods ended May 31, 2009, RPM’s return to shareholders has outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 38% and 94%, respectively, including the assumed reinvestment of dividends for both RPM and the S&P 500 Index. Our annual dividend growth has been a critical element of our ability to significantly outperform this broad market index and deliver value to RPM shareholders.”