May Dept Stores

May Dept Stores is a publicly traded company having a good stock performances result. May Dept Stores is a Fortune 500 stock listed company trading under MAY symbol.

David May opened the first store which became The May Department Stores Company in Leadville. Shares of May common stock are listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

The stock is quoted as MayDS in daily newspapers. Dividend Reinvestment Plan Shareowners can economically and conveniently reinvest dividends on May common stock through participation in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan. Participating shareowners also may make optional cash purchases of May common stock.

The Company is organized under the laws of the State of Delaware in 1976. On February 28, 2005, May and Federated Department Stores, Incorporation. announced that they have entered into a merger agreement. Pursuant to the agreement, each share of May will be converted into the right to receive 17.75 dollars per share of cash and 0.3115 shares of Federated stock.

In addition, Federated will assume approximately 6 billion dollars of May debt. Completion of the merger is contingent on regulatory review and approval by the shareowners of both companies. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2005.

Return on Equity is their principal measure for evaluating their performance for shareowners and their ability to invest shareowners funds profitably. Return on beginning equity was 12.5 percent in 2004, compared with 10.7 percent in 2003 and 14.1 percent in 2002. Restructuring charges reduced return on equity by 0.7 percent in 2004, 5.1 percent in 2003, and 2.0 percent in 2002.

Return on net assets measures performance independent of capital structure. Return on net assets is pretax earnings before net interest expense and the interest component of operating leases divided by beginning-of-year net assets. Return on net assets was 12.1 percent in 2004, compared with 9.8 percent in 2003 and 12.0 percent in 2002. Restructuring charges reduced return on net assets by 0.5 percent in 2004, 3.3 percent in 2003, and 1.1 percent in 2002.