MANKATO, Minn. Jun. 29, 2009 -- HickoryTech Corporation (Nasdaq:HTCO), an integrated communications solution provider, announced it has been added to the broad-market Russell 2000® and Russell 3000® Indexes on June 26.
Annual reconstitution of Russell’s U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000® Index or small-cap Russell 2000 Index as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.
"We were very pleased to learn of our inclusion in the Russell 2000 Index," said John Finke, president and chief executive officer of HickoryTech. "Market capitalization is the key metric for inclusion. Our 2009 results reflect solid performance in a very difficult business environment. We believe this additional visibility in the financial community will be useful to current and potential investors.”
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them. These investment tools originated from Russell’s multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers. Total returns data for the Russell 3000 and other Russell Indexes is available at http://www.russell.com/Indexes/performance/default.asp.
About HickoryTech
HickoryTech Corporation (NASDAQ: HTCO), headquartered in Mankato, Minn., offers integrated communication solutions to business and residential customers over a regional fiber network. The company, founded in 1898, has approximately 430 employees. The Telecom Sector, with facilities-based operations in Minnesota and Iowa, offers local voice, long distance, high-speed Internet, Digital TV, and IP networking services to residential and business customers. In addition, the Telecom Sector develops telecom and carrier access billing solutions and customer management systems. The Enventis Sector provides IP-based voice, data and network solutions to businesses across a five-state region. For more information, visit www.hickorytech.com.