Share capital

The Company's authorized share capital consists of (a) 50,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share; (b) 50,000,000 shares of Class A Stock, par value $0.001 per share; and (c) 99,665 shares of Class B Stock, par value $0.001 per share. No Preferred Stock has been issued. 99,665 shares of Class B Stock have been issued and are outstanding.

The Class A Stock and the Class B Stock are equal in all respects except that the Class A Stock is non-voting.

The following table reflects changes in the number of shares of Class A Stock outstanding for the years indicated:



	2018		2017
Class A Stock outstanding, beginning of year	13,139,203		13,261,095
Issued pursuant to share-based compensation plans (note 15)	38,728		328,458
Repurchased and canceled pursuant to the stock buy-back	(236,122	)	(450,350	)
Class A Stock outstanding, end of year	12,941,809		13,139,203

Stock buy-back

On May 5, 2017, the Company announced that its board of directors approved a share repurchase program that authorizes the Company to purchase up to 650,000 shares of the Company's Class A Stock, representing approximately 5% of its 13,178,571 then issued and outstanding shares of Class A Stock. This authorization supplemented the 40,734 shares that remained authorized and available under the Company's previous share repurchase program covering up to 665,000 shares of the Company's Class A Stock, which was announced on September 15, 2015, for a total of 690,734 shares authorized and available for repurchase. As of January 1, 2018, 508,906 shares were available to be purchased under this program.

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company purchased and canceled an aggregate of 236,122 shares of Class A Stock for a total consideration of $5.9 million ($24.96 per share). As of December 31, 2018, 272,784 shares remained available to be purchased under this program.

Any such share repurchases will be made by the Company from time to time in the open market at the prevailing open market price using cash on hand, in compliance with the applicable rules and regulations of the New York Stock Exchange and federal and state securities laws and the terms of the Company's senior secured debt. The Company will cancel all of the shares repurchased.

The Company expects to continue the share repurchase program indefinitely. The Company will base the timing and amounts of any purchases on market conditions and other factors including price, regulatory requirements and capital availability. The share repurchase program does not obligate the Company to repurchase any dollar amount or number of shares of Class A Stock. Depending on market conditions and other factors, the Company may commence or suspend repurchases from time to time without notice.

Dividends

The Company paid cash dividends of $0.44 per share to holders of Class A and Class B Stock in 2018, 2017 and 2016.