EVERETT, Wash., Sept. 26, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Cascade Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:CASB), parent company of Cascade Bank, today announced that its Board of Directors has increased the quarterly cash dividend 12.5% to $0.09 per share. The dividend will be paid on October 24 to shareholders of record on October 10, 2007. Previously Cascade paid a regular cash dividend of $0.08 per share.
Additionally, Cascade expects to report third quarter 2007 results after the close of the market on Tuesday, October 23, 2007. The following day, on Wednesday, October 24, Carol K. Nelson, President and CEO, and Lars Johnson, EVP and CFO, will discuss the bank's operating results in a conference call at 11:00 a.m. PDT (2:00 p.m. EDT). Interested investors may listen to the call live or via replay at www.cascadebank.com. Investment professionals are invited to dial (303) 262-2143 to participate in the call. A replay will be available for a month at (303) 590-3000, using passcode 11097613#.
Investors wishing to reinvest the upcoming dividend must complete the enrollment through the company's transfer agent, Mellon Investor Services. For complete details on this program, please visit the investor relations portion of the company's website at www.cascadebank.com or at www.melloninvestor.com. Interested parties may also contact Mellon Investor Services toll-free at 1-800-839-2983.
About Cascade Financial
Established in 1916, Cascade Bank, the only operating subsidiary of Cascade Financial Corporation, is a state chartered commercial bank headquartered in Everett, Washington. Cascade Bank has proudly served the Puget Sound region for over 90 years and operates 20 full service branches in Everett, Lynnwood, Marysville, Mukilteo, Shoreline, Smokey Point, Issaquah, Clearview, Woodinville, Lake Stevens, Bellevue, Snohomish and North Bend.
In July 2007, Cascade was named to Sandler O'Neill's Bank and Thrift Sm-All Stars - Class of 2007, which recognized Cascade as one of the top 24 best performing small capitalization institutions from a field of 610 publicly traded banks and thrifts in the U.S. with market capitalizations less than $2 billion. In making their selections, Sandler focused on growth, profitability, credit quality and capital strength.
In June 2007, Cascade was ranked #44 on the Seattle Times' Northwest 100, list of public companies. In September 2007, US Banker magazine named President and CEO Carol Nelson one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking. Ryan Beck & Co. ranked CASB #56 on its list of top performing bank stocks nationally, based on a five-year total return.