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CORRECTING and REPLACING First Trust Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund Increases its Quarterly Distribution to

^{Published on 2011-08-15 06:36:20 - Market Wire}
 

WHEATON, Ill.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--First graph, second sentence of release should read: The distribution will be payable on August 31, 2011 to shareholders of record on August 25, 2011. (sted The distribution will be payable on August 31, 2011 to shareholders of record on August 23, 2011.).

FIRST TRUST SPECIALTY FINANCE AND FINANCIAL OPPORTUNITIES FUND INCREASES ITS QUARTERLY DISTRIBUTION TO $0.16 PER SHARE

First Trust Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund (the "Fund") (NYSE: FGB) today increased the Funda™s regularly scheduled quarterly distribution to $0.16 per share from $0.155 per share. The distribution will be payable on August 31, 2011 to shareholders of record on August 25, 2011. The ex-dividend date is expected to be August 19, 2011.

First Trust Specialty Finance and Financial Opportunities Fund (FGB):

Distribution per share: $0.16

Distribution Rate (annualized) based on the August 11, 2011 NAV of $6.83: 9.37%

Distribution Rate (annualized) based on the August 11, 2011 closing market price of $6.28: 10.19%

Increase from previous distribution of $0.155: 3.23%

A portion of the distribution may be treated as paid from sources other than net investment income, including short-term capital gain, long-term capital gain and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax status of all distributions paid in 2011 will be made after the end of 2011.

The Fund is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks to provide a high level of current income. As a secondary objective, the Fund seeks to provide attractive total return. The Fund pursues these investment objectives by investing at least 80% of its managed assets in a portfolio of securities of specialty finance and other financial companies that the Funda™s investment sub-advisor believes offer attractive opportunities for income and capital appreciation.

First Trust Advisors L.P., the Funda™s investment advisor, along with its affiliate First Trust Portfolios L.P., are privately-held companies which provide a variety of investment services, including asset management, financial advisory services, and competitive municipal underwritings, with collective assets under management or supervision of approximately $51 billion as of July 31, 2011 through unit investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, mutual funds and separate managed accounts.

Confluence Investment Management LLC (aConfluencea), an SEC registered investment advisor, serves as the Funda™s investment sub-advisor. The investment professionals at Confluence have over 80 years of aggregate portfolio management experience. Confluence provides portfolio management and advisory services to both institutional and individual clients. As of July 31, 2011 Confluence managed or supervised over $1.3 billion in assets.

Past performance is no assurance of future results. Investment return and market value of an investment in the Fund will fluctuate. Shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than their original cost.

Principal Risk Factors: Investment in this Fund involves management risk; sub-advisor risk; value investing risk; income risk; specialty finance and other financial companies risks; common stock risk; preferred stock and trust preferred securities risk; convertible securities risk; fixed-income securities risk; lower grade and distressed securities risk; business development company risk; REIT, mortgage-related and asset-backed securities risks; infrastructure trust risk; income trust and master limited partnership risks; tax risks; non-U.S. securities risk; currency risk; liquidity risk; leverage risk; non-diversification risk; inflation/deflation risk; market discount from net asset value risk; and market disruption risk. The risks of investing in the Fund are spelled out in the prospectus, shareholder report and other regulatory filings.

The Funda™s daily closing New York Stock Exchange price and net asset value per share as well as other information can be found at [ www.ftportfolios.com ] or by calling 1-800-988-5891.