Q: Hi Team,
LNN as I had somewhat feared has taken a huge hit with the preferred share set up. Same thing was done with the Toi spin off and it took over a year to recover from. This to me is managements payday for doing the spin offs . They paid themselves these shares it seems to me . Question is do you think the preferred share deals with Toi and now LMN were a bit greedy or excessive on managements part . LMN seems to be a large hit worth over half of the companies market cap. Will take a long time to recoup that amount of cash at today’s free cash flow rates . This all being said ; analysts must have known about this yet the stock had previously run up anyways . Comments of any concern please .
Thanks ,
Shane
LNN as I had somewhat feared has taken a huge hit with the preferred share set up. Same thing was done with the Toi spin off and it took over a year to recover from. This to me is managements payday for doing the spin offs . They paid themselves these shares it seems to me . Question is do you think the preferred share deals with Toi and now LMN were a bit greedy or excessive on managements part . LMN seems to be a large hit worth over half of the companies market cap. Will take a long time to recoup that amount of cash at today’s free cash flow rates . This all being said ; analysts must have known about this yet the stock had previously run up anyways . Comments of any concern please .
Thanks ,
Shane
5i Research Answer:
All of the details on the preferreds were fully disclosed a year ago. Nothing is nefarious here. CSU gets the shares, not management, and the structure was a necessary set up for taxes and to effectively accomplish the spin outs. LMN is down 6% today but remains well up in the past year. The drop is likely 'sell on news' or profit taking rather than a reflection of the preferred conversion situation.