Issues with the conference call .... Having listented to all of the call and the analyst's questions, here are some observations in no particular order:
Cornhill was unsteady, hesitant and mis-spoke several times in his delivery. The quality of his presentation was poor compared to other members of management. People can listen to the entire call, including his responses to questions, and judge for themselves.
Cornhill, rather disingenuously, casually shrugged off a question about the re-trade from "8-10 dividend growth" by saying "that was from 17 months ago". While it is true that 17 months ago that narrative started, IT WAS CONTINUED AND REPEATED PUBLICLY AS RECENTLY AS MARCH 1ST OF THIS YEAR (see company news release dated March 1, 2018, page 4) . That was 5 months ago - hardly in the same category as the "17 months" Cornhill was painting this as. Again, for those that know the facts, this is simply disingenuous to characterize it as 17 months ago when the same message was still emanating from management this past March. Note that this is NOT about whether doing the re-trade is a good idea (there are some legitimate reasons for that). The issue is in their lack of clarity in their delivery of the message, which calls into question the clarity of their thinking prior to someone speaking on behalf of the company.
There were at least THREE REFERENCES TO RAISING COMMON EQUITY IN THE CALL that went undenied by management. Go and listen to it again - they came up in response and as part of the analyst question section. The company did not dismiss that possibility in their vague, non-commital and wandering comments about asset sales.
This call was far from a nothing burger, and lacked decisive answers or even increased clarity on the timing of: capital raise to pay down the bridge debt or the asset sales to pay down the bridge debt. THE REASON THIS IS STRIKING IS BECAUSE IT'S NOT AS THOUGH THEY HAVEN'T HAD 17 MONTHS TO START SETTING UP THE ASSET SALES. Clearly they are encountering issues that are resulting in delay.
Oh, and one last thing.... there was no apology from Cornhill or anyone from the company about the fiasco involving the recently outed CEO. None.
And then people wonder why the stock is off today more than double the % decline of any of its peers ?