Why I Think Mark Thompson Should Resign as CEOI took a look at the transcript of the CXR Conference Call dated August 12, 2016 on the Seeking Alpha website.......Mark Thompson is quoted in the transcript as saying the following…..1) MARK THOMPSON: “Two of the events that happened, Brexit and generic Nilandron, were really unexpected. I recall sitting here in the Q1 call and discussing Brexit and really nobody believed that it was going to happen, but it did. And across the industry, nobody expected that Nilandron will go generic, but it did, and we take responsibility for that.”…… RE. THE BREXIT EXCUSE: CXR issued a press release about one month after the Brexit vote (July 13, 2016) stating: “Following the outcome of Brexit on June 23, 2016, Concordia continues to monitor developments related to the outcome of Brexit, including the impact resulting from currency market movements. The Company's International segment consists of a diversified portfolio of branded and generic products that are sold to wholesalers, hospitals and pharmacies in more than 100 countries throughout the world. Although the Concordia International segment predominantly earns revenues in Great Britain pounds sterling (GBP), it also earns revenues in other currencies including Euros, Swedish Kronor and Australian dollars, among others. On a consolidated basis for the first quarter of 2016, the Company's GBP-denominated revenue represented approximately 43 per cent of consolidated revenue while GBP-denominated long term debt was approximately 21 per cent of consolidated long term debt. During the remainder of 2016, the Company expects to use the Concordia International segment's free cash flows to service its GBP long term debt and contingent earn-out consideration obligations as described in the Company's June 28, 2016 press release. Beyond 2016, the Company will continue to assess its currency position, including hedging, in particular with respect to GBP free cash flows.......This press release text made it appear that the Brexit event was not that big a deal, yet one month later, all of a sudden it IS a big enough deal that it is being used a one of the two main excuses for the bad news earnings report and revised guidance.......RE. THE “UNEXPECTED” GENERIC COMPETITION: In a recent article on Bloomberg, Max Nisen states “’Unexpected competition’.......which has been trotted out by generic and specialty firms.......is getting a bit old. The FDA has been making a concerted effort to work through a backlog of applications. Expectations of greater competition arguably should have been baked into companies' forecasts. So far in its approval year, which ends in October, the FDA has approved more generics than it did in any of the previous three years”.......2) MARK THOMPSON: “I know the naysayers are saying already that we (suspended the dividend) because we need the cash. But if you go back and look at what the dividend was, it was historically put in place to attract investors when we went public. When we went on the road, road show after road show, institutional investors would always ask us why do you pay a dividend and we told (them) why. But now given where we are and given the amount of leverage, we’re listening to our shareholders and our shareholders are saying deploy that cash to repay debt. And that’s what we’ve decided to do.".......In my view, dividends should ONLY be paid when a company is in a position where it has excess cash that it doesn’t need fully fund ongoing operations…….Mr. Thompson appears to be admitting here that he decided to pay out a dividend as an enticement to attract investors, regardless of the sustainability of the dividend….There is a reason why the vast majority of new / small growth stocks that engage in rapid acquisitions funded primarily through debt do not pay any dividends: The CEOs of these firms realize that they cannot afford to pay dividends to shareholders when they are still a small, growing, company that plans on making a number of acquisitions.......Mr. Thompson on the other hand, intentionally decides to both pay a dividend and run up a large amount of debt in making a series of acquisitions, and now says he has to suspend that very same dividend he himself instituted because he needs to pay down the very same debt he himself ran up???.........The idea that Mr. Thompson was essentially trying to bribe shareowners with their own money by paying a dividend at such an early stage in the company’s history is extremely careless and not the kind of behaviour a competent and responsible CEO should engae in in my view.......Given his statements above, I believe he is making the case for his own removal, and I think he needs to do the right thing and resign as CEO if the company isn’t sold / taken over within the next few weeks……..