Our board of directors approved two shareholder dividend increases in 2010, which resulted in a total quarterly dividend increase of 12 percent. This provided shareholders additional cash return on their invested capital during a period when the company was experiencing lower sales and earnings growth than in prerecession periods. This improvement in the dividend increased our payout ratio to nearly 60 percent, which is at the upper end of our targeted payout ratio of 50 percent to 60 percent.

AEP reached a milestone in June 2010 when it paid its 400th consecutive quarterly dividend. We are proud to have paid a dividend every quarter since mid-1910 which, according to our research, is an achievement only a couple dozen U.S. companies can claim. Our record shows that management and the Board of Directors of AEP are committed to providing shareholders an important part of their total return proposition through a cash dividend.

Total shareholder return is an important performance metric. For 2010, our total return was approximately 8.7 percent, exceeding the S&P 500 Utilities Index by more than 3 percentage points and making an investment in AEP a stable and competitive return proposition accompanied by a low risk profile and steady performance.