CSWC Announces $2.75 Special Dividend – Stock Trades at 49% Discount to NAV

The Capital Southwest Corporation (CSWC) board of directors has declared a cash dividend in the amount of $2.75 per share of common stock. This special dividend is a yield of 2.5% based on the current stock price. The dividend is payable on March 28, 2013 to shareholders of record on March 15, 2013.

Capital Southwest Corporation is a public investment firm specializing in venture capital and private equity investments in small and medium sized businesses.  CSWC has a market cap of $421 million and is cheaply valued with a trailing PE of only 6 compared to an industry average PE of 20.

Capital Southwest Corporation reported total net assets at December 31, 2012 of $628,089,815 equivalent to $165.36 per share.  CSWC shares are currently trading at $111 which is a 49% discount to the NAV at year end. 

The market clearly misunderstands this stock as it should not be trading at such a discount to NAV.  In addition, CSWC has NO long-term debt on its books.  CSWC has an equity summary score of 7.2 out of 10 for a Bullish outlook.

Assuming reinvestment of all dividends and tax credits on retained long-term capital gains, the December 31, 2012net asset value was 18.4% greater than the March 31, 2012net asset value of $167.45per share and 34.9% above the December 31, 2011net asset value of $146.95per share. It is important to note that during the nine months ended December 31, 2012, CSWC distributed $66,825,782 or $17.59 per share of capital gains dividends and $3,025,032 or $0.80 per share in ordinary dividends to our shareholders.

On January 30, 2013 Capital Southwest Corporation announced that Capital Southwest Venture Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CSWC sold its 9,317,310 shares of common stock of Heelys, Inc. to Sequential Brands Group, Inc. pursuant to the merger of Heelys into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sequential.  The Merger closed on January 24, 2013.

The sale of CSVC’s 9,317,310 shares of Heelys’ common stock generated cash proceeds of $20,963,948 and a capital gain of $20,861,458 or $5.49 per share, based on the 3,800,393 shares of issued and outstanding shares of CSWC. The CSWC Board has approved a partial distribution of the capital gain proceeds, in the amount of $2.75 per share or approximately $10,451,000.