Stepan Increases Quarterly Dividend

Stepan Increases Quarterly Dividend 


NORTHFIELD, Ill., Oct. 20  /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Stepan
Company today declared a 1.3 percent increase in the company's quarterly cash
dividend on its common stock to $0.1950 per share.  The quarterly dividend is
payable on December 15, 2004, to stockholders of record on November 30, 2004.
The increase brings the annual dividend rate to $.78 per share.

The increase declared at today's meeting marks the thirty-seventh consecutive
year in which the quarterly dividend rate on its common stock has been
increased.  The company first initiated a cash dividend policy in 1967.

The Board of Directors today also declared a quarterly cash dividend on its 5.5
percent convertible preferred stock, at the quarterly dividend rate of $0.34375
per share, or at the annual rate of $1.375 per share.  The dividend is payable
on November 30, 2004, to preferred stockholders of record on November 15, 2004.

The Board of Directors today also declared a quarterly cash dividend on its 5.5
percent convertible preferred stock at the quarterly dividend rate of $0.34375
per share, or at the annual rate of $1.375 per share, payable on February 28,
2005, to preferred stockholders of record on February 15, 2005.

Stepan Company, headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, is a leading producer of
specialty and intermediate chemicals used in household, industrial, personal
care, agricultural, food and insulation-related products. The common and
preferred stocks are traded on the New York and Chicago Stock Exchanges under
the symbols SCL and SCLPR. 

DATASOURCE: Stepan Company



CONTACT:  James E. Hurlbutt, [phone], for Stepan Company

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