KCBT Announces Member Dividend For 2006 - It Is The Ninth Year In A Row A Dividend Is Paid

The board of directors of the Kansas City Board of Trade at the December 19 board meeting declared a dividend for 2006 for all full members (Class “AA” Members) of record as of Nov. 28, 2006. A record-high dividend of $11,000 per share will be paid in January 2007. This represents a 3.4 percent return on seats that last traded at $320,000 in 2006.

This is the ninth year in a row the exchange has paid a dividend, making it unique among U.S. exchanges. Membership seat prices rose dramatically in 2006, finishing the year at a record high of $320,000 with a sale at this level on November 20. The highest price paid for a seat in 2005 was $175,000. The average seat price for the year was $222,761, up from $152,000 in 2005. Thus far in 2007, seats have traded higher, to a current record of $380,000, set on January 12.

New annual volume records were set for the exchange as a whole and for the wheat futures contract in 2006. Total exchange volume for 2006 amounted to 5,287,190 contracts, breaking the previous record of 3,953,536 contracts set last year by 33.7 percent.

For the 11th time in 13 years, the KCBT set a new annual trading volume record in the hard red winter wheat futures contract. Trading volume for 2006 was 4,763,168 contracts, breaking the previous annual record of 3,682,919 contracts set last year by 29.3 percent.

The KCBT is a for-profit corporation organized under the laws of Delaware. The exchange, chartered in 1876, is the world’s largest futures market for hard red winter wheat.