RE: RE: Does anybody remember....Great post Shinny!
You definitely did your homework on this. Hard to believe that Cognicase was 6 years ago and AMS was almost 5 years ago, and nothing of any significance since then.
Your numbers about the dividend payout make sense. Mike Roach says it every year... they review the option of a dividend payout. They must be closer now than ever before. My best guess is that if there is no significant acquisition within the next 12 months we are almost certainly going to see either a one-time payout or regular, albeit small, dividend payment.
Maybe one of the things that holds us back is the multiple share classes. From what I understand the special Class B shares (mainly held by Serge and a few other insiders) get 10 votes each, while us poor Class A shareholders get one vote each. That way the control stays with Serge & buddies.
As of September 30, 2008, Class A shares outstanding are about 375 million. Class B shares are about 35 million.
Someone I know who knows Serge Godin (the real one) quoted him as saying "I have enough money already. The first few $million is fun, but after that, what are you going to do with all the rest?".
Perhaps this is one of the reasons for not doing a dividend payment? The real Serge simply doesn't need the money.
This Serge definitely could use the money.
Mike ... talk to Serge and convince him to approve a dividend.
- Serge (the one who needs the money).