UAL Cuts Dividend 84% to 5 Cents for Quarter

UAL Corp., whose United Airlines is pulling out of $4.3-billion merger deal with US Airways Group, cut its quarterly dividend by 84%, citing a weak economic environment.

Chicago-based UAL, which recently warned that its second-quarter profit would fall amid an industrywide slump in corporate travel, said its board declared a quarterly dividend of 5 cents a share payable Aug. 1 to shareholders as of July 16.

That’s down sharply from the company’s previous quarterly payout of about 31 cents a share.

“The current weak economic environment and the uncertain outlook are having significant industry-wide effects on revenue, negatively affecting our overall performance,” said James Goodwin, UAL’s chairman and chief executive.

UAL shares finished up 8 cents at $34.78 on the New York Stock Exchange.