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Cardinal Health Board Authorizes Share-Repurchase Program

DUBLIN, Ohio, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH), a leading provider of products and services supporting the health-care industry, announced today that its board of directors has authorized a program for the repurchase of up to $500 million of its outstanding common shares. The company will hold the repurchased stock as treasury shares and use it for general corporate purposes. The company has approximately 450 million common shares outstanding.

The board's decision gives the company flexibility to invest in its stock. Cardinal had been precluded from maintaining a share-repurchase program under pooling-of-interests rules, a method of accounting that has now been eliminated.

The company noted that it maintains a high degree of confidence in its future earnings growth and cash flow and that its low debt-to-capital position gives the company sufficient financial flexibility to fund the share repurchase while continuing to invest in future opportunities for strong and consistent growth.

Cardinal Health, Inc. ( http://www.cardinal.com ) is a leading provider of products and services supporting the health-care industry. Cardinal companies develop, manufacture, package and market products for patient care; develop drug-delivery technologies; distribute pharmaceuticals, medical-surgical and laboratory supplies; and offer consulting and other services that improve quality and efficiency in health care. The company employs approximately 49,000 people on five continents and produces annual revenues of approximately $40 billion.

Except for historical information, all other information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking information and statements in this news release are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: those discussed or identified in the public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made by Cardinal Health; risks and uncertainties with respect to Cardinal Health's expectations regarding the accounting and tax treatment of acquisitions, the value of merger consideration, growth opportunities, earnings accretion, cost savings, revenue enhancements, synergies and other benefits anticipated from acquisition transactions; the costs and effects of government regulation and legal and administrative proceedings; difficulties related to integrating acquired businesses; the effect of any changes in customer and supplier relationships and customer purchasing patterns, shifts in the growth rates among segments driven by various factors, general consumer perceptions of health-related concerns or the distribution outsourcing pattern for health- care products and/or services and of general economic conditions such as changes in interest rates and the performance of the financial markets, changes in domestic and foreign laws, regulations and taxes, changes in competition and pricing environments, and general market and industry conditions. Cardinal undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Cardinal Health, Inc.

CONTACT: Investors, Stephen T. Fischbach, +1-614-757-7067, or Media, Geoffrey D. Fenton, +1-614-757-7871, both of Cardinal Health, Inc./