Applied Industrial Technologies Increases Dividend 12%

CLEVELAND, April 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE: AIT) Chairman & Chief Executive Officer David L. Pugh today announced that the Company's Board of Directors raised the Company's quarterly cash dividend by $0.02 declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.19 per common share, payable on May 31, 2011, to shareholders of record on May 16, 2011.  This dividend represents a 12 percent increase over the previous regular quarterly dividend of $0.17 per share.

"We are pleased to make this increase in our dividend based upon our strong cash flow and the ongoing improvement in the North American industrial economy.  Increasing the cash dividend is consistent with our view that dividends are an important way for us to share our operating results directly with shareholders and to enhance shareholder value."

With approximately 470 facilities and 4,600 employee associates across North America, Applied Industrial Technologies is an industrial distributor that offers more than 4 million parts critical to the operations of MRO and OEM customers in virtually every industry.  In addition, Applied provides engineering, design and systems integration for industrial and fluid power applications, as well as customized mechanical, fabricated rubber and fluid power shop services. Applied also offers maintenance training, plus solutions to meet inventory and storeroom management needs that help provide enhanced value to its customers. For its fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, Applied posted sales of $1.89 billion.

Applied can be visited on the Internet at http://www.applied.com.

SOURCE Applied Industrial Technologies