(By Balachander) Iron Mountain Inc. (NYSE:IRM) declared a special dividend of $4.07 per share, or totaling $700 million, in connection with its potential conversion to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).
The provider of information management services also issued its 2013 operating earnings and revenue forecast that trailed market expectations.
The special dividend is payable on November 21, 2012 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on October 22, 2012.
The company expects operating earnings per share (EPS) in the range of $1.31 to $1.44 on revenue between $3.02 billion and $3.10 billion for 2013.
Wall Street analysts, on average, expect EPS of $1.46 on revenue of $3.08 billion for the 12 months ending December 2013.
The company expects sustained storage rental growth of roughly 3 percent and flat service revenues for the next year.
Iron Mountain, meanwhile, continues to expect operating EPS of $1.20 to $1.36 for 2012, on revenue of $2.99 billion to $3.04 billion. Analysts' expect EPS of $1.31 on revenue of $3.01 billion.
Iron Mountain said the special dividend represents the initial distribution to satisfy the requirement that it pays to stockholders its accumulated earnings and profits of around $1 billion to $1.5 billion in connection with its plan to convert into a REIT, which is expected to occur no sooner than its taxable year beginning January 1, 2014.
Iron Mountain manages billions of information assets, including business records, electronic files, medical data, emails
The company will report third-quarter results on Oct. 31.
The stock closed Wednesday's regular trading at $34.35. Over the past year, shares have been trading between $27.10 and $35.09.