NEW YORK, Jan. 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) today approved the 39th consecutive annual increase in the regular quarterly cash dividend on the Corporation's common stock. 

The quarterly dividend will increase 2.0 percent from $0.250 to $0.255 per share. The dividend will be payable on March 12, 2012, to shareholders of record on February 27, 2012.  The new annualized dividend rate of $1.02 per share represents an average compound annual dividend growth rate of 9.6% since 1974. 

"The Board's decision to boost the dividend demonstrates once again our commitment to enhancing shareholder value," said Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies. "Through dividend increases and stock buybacks we have returned more than $11.5 billion to shareholders since 1996, including $1.8 billion in 2011."

The McGraw-Hill Companies has paid a dividend each year since 1937 and is one of fewer than 25 companies in the S&P 500 that has increased its dividend annually for the last 39 years.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies:
McGraw-Hill announced on September 12, 2011, its intention to separate into two public companies: McGraw-Hill Financial, a leading provider of content and analytics to global financial markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, a leading education company focused on digital learning and education services worldwide.  McGraw-Hill Financial's leading brands include Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, S&P Capital IQ, S&P Indices, Platts energy information services and J.D. Power and Associates.  With sales of $6.2 billion in 2010, the Corporation has approximately 21,000 employees across more than 280 offices in 40 countries.  Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.  

Forward-Looking Statements:
The forward-looking statements in this news release (identified by the future tense and words like "expects," "targeted" and "projected") involve risks and uncertainties, are subject to change, and actual results may differ materially from the Corporation's expectations, based on various important factors, including worldwide economic, financial, liquidity, political and regulatory conditions; the health of debt (including U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations), equity and commodities markets, including possible future interest rate changes; the health of the economy and in advertising; the level of expenditures and state new adoptions and open territory sales in the education market; the successful marketing of competitive products; and the effect of competitive products and pricing. Additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in McGraw-Hill's 2010 Annual Report on Form 10-K which, along with the Corporation's other filings with the SEC, are available on the SEC's website (www.sec.gov).

Investor Relations: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/investor_relations

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SOURCE The McGraw-Hill Companies