Common stock

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Dec. 31, 2009

Notes to Financial Statements [Abstract]

Common stock

Note 16 – Capital Stock

Common Stock

At December 31, 2011, we had 100 million shares of common stock authorized and 46.9 million shares issued and outstanding.

Share Purchases

We purchased and retired 234,456 shares of Brink's common stock in 2009 for $6.1 million (average price of $26.20 per share) and 1,682,845 shares in 2010 for $33.7 million (average price of $20.03 per share). We did not purchase any shares of our common stock in 2011.

Shares Contributed to U.S. Pension Plan

On August 20, 2009, we made a voluntary $150 million contribution to our primary U.S. retirement plan.  The contribution was comprised of $92.4 million of cash and 2,260,738 newly issued shares of our common stock valued for purposes of the contribution at $25.48 per share, or $57.6 million in the aggregate.

Dividends

We paid regular quarterly dividends on our common stock during the last three years. On January 19, 2012, the board declared a regular quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share payable on March 1, 2012. Future dividends are dependent on the earnings, financial condition, shareholder equity levels, cash flow and business requirements, as determined by the board of directors.

Shelf Registration of Common Stock

We intend to register $150 million in new common stock in 2012. We intend to issue shares in 2012 to satisfy some or all of the required contributions to our primary U.S. pension plan. We may also issue shares in the future to satisfy future contributions.

Preferred Stock

At December 31, 2011, we had the authority to issue up to 2.0 million shares of preferred stock with a par value of $10 per share.

Shares Used to Calculate Earnings per Share

(a)              We have deferred compensation plans for directors and certain of our employees.  Amounts owed to participants are denominated in common stock units.  Each unit represents one share of common stock.  The number of shares used to calculate basic earnings per share includes the weighted-average units credited to employees and directors under the deferred compensation plans.  Additionally, non-participating restricted stock units are also included in the computation of basic weighted average shares when the requisite service period has been completed.  Accordingly, basic and diluted shares include weighted-average units of 1.1 million in 2011, 1.0 million in 2010 and 0.8 million in 2009.

	Years Ended December 31,
(In millions)	2011	2010	2009
Weighted-average shares
Basic (a)	47.8	48.2	47.2
Effect of dilutive stock awards	0.3	0.2	0.3
Diluted (a)	48.1	48.4	47.5
Antidilutive stock awards excluded from denominator	2.3	2.2	2.5