Earnings and dividends per share

Basic earnings per share (“basic EPS”) is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for the reporting period. Diluted earnings per share (“diluted EPS”) gives effect to all dilutive potential shares outstanding resulting from employee stock options, restricted stock units, performance share units and stock appreciation rights (“SARs”) during the period. The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share for three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2012.



	Three months ended March 31,
	2011		2012

Net income	$	8,995	$	9,968

Basic – weighted average shares outstanding	28,261		28,029

Effect of dilutive potential securities	440		455

Diluted – weighted average shares outstanding	28,701		28,484


Net income
Basic	$0.32		$0.36
Diluted	$0.31		$0.35

The shares used in the calculation of diluted EPS exclude options and SARs to purchase shares where the exercise price was greater than the average market price of common shares for the period. Shares excluded from the calculation of diluted EPS aggregated 0.7 million and 0.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2011 and 2012, respectively.

On February 29, 2012, the Board of Directors adopted a cash dividend policy and declared an initial quarterly dividend of $0.15 per share. The initial quarterly dividend was paid on April 5, 2012 to shareholders of record as of March 15, 2012. The total dividend payable at March 31, 2012 was $4.3 million and is included in other current liabilities in the consolidated condensed balance sheet.