B. Riley Financial hikes dividend by 100% and pays special dividend

Bryant Riley, Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of B. Riley Financial, said: "We have never been more confident in the power of our combined platform and the opportunities we see ahead. In line with our stated commitment to return capital to our shareholders, we have increased our regular quarterly dividend to $1.00 and declared a special dividend of $3.00 for a total third quarter dividend of $4.00 per common share. Upon payment of our third quarter dividend, we will have returned a total of $9.00 per share, or approximately $247 million, in common stock dividends to shareholders for the first three quarters. The increase in our regular dividend reflects our increasing confidence in our recurring cash flows, as well as the continued growth in our episodic businesses. Our balance sheet continues to be very strong, and our capital base has continued to increase, reflecting the growing cash flows and strong fundamentals of our business. We acknowledge that our diversified business can be difficult to analyze and believe a recurring dividend is an important measure for our shareholders. Our goal is to continue to utilize our cash flows to enhance our business, make accretive acquisitions, and return capital to our shareholders. Over the last year, we have made meaningful progress in reducing our debt expense by redeeming two of our higher rate corporate bonds and issuing debt at a rate that is over 200 basis points lower. We will continue to seek opportunities to improve our capital structure in the coming quarters."