Shareholders' equity

3 Months Ended

May 02, 2020

Shareholders’ equity

As a result of COVID-19, Signet’s Board of Directors has elected to temporarily suspend the dividend program on common shares and has elected to pay the quarterly dividend declared on its preferred shares “in-kind” for the first quarter of Fiscal 2021.

Dividends on common shares

Dividends declared on common shares during the 13 weeks ended May 2, 2020 and May 4, 2019 were as follows:



	Fiscal 2021				Fiscal 2020
(in millions, except per share amounts)	Cash dividend per share		Total dividends		Cash dividend per share		Total dividends
First quarter⁽¹⁾	$	0.00	$	0.0	$	0.37	$	19.3


⁽¹⁾	Signet’s dividend policy for common shares results in the dividend payment date being a quarter in arrears from the declaration date. As a result, as of May 4, 2019, $19.3 million, was recorded in accrued expenses and other current liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets reflecting the cash dividends on common shares declared for the first quarter of Fiscal 2020.

Dividends on preferred shares

Dividends declared on preferred shares during the 13 weeks ended May 2, 2020 and May 4, 2019 were as follows:



	Fiscal 2021				Fiscal 2020
(in millions, except per share amounts)	Dividends per share		Total dividends		Dividends per share		Total dividends
First quarter⁽¹⁾	$	12.50	$	7.8	$	12.50	$	7.8

⁽¹⁾

Signet’s preferred shares dividends result in the dividend payment date being a quarter in arrears from the declaration date. As a result, as of May 2, 2020 and May 4, 2019, $7.8 million and $7.8 million, respectively, has been recorded in accrued expenses and other current liabilities in the condensed consolidated balance sheets reflecting the dividends on preferred shares declared for the first quarter of Fiscal 2021 and Fiscal 2020, respectively. As disclosed in Note 6, the first quarter Fiscal 2021 dividend will be paid “in-kind” during the second quarter of Fiscal 2021.

There were no cumulative undeclared dividends on the preferred shares that reduced net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders during the 13 weeks ended May 2, 2020 or May 4, 2019. See Note 6 for additional discussion of the Company’s preferred shares.

Share repurchases

There were no share repurchases executed during the 13 weeks ended May 2, 2020 and May 4, 2019. The 2017 Program had $165.6 million remaining as of May 2, 2020.