E-mail response from Corus Investor RelationsI asked why the share price had tanked. This was the response fron Investor Relations:
Thank you very much for your investment in Corus and for expressing your concerns. We are seeing some activity that we believe is partly related to our change in dividend, some of which may be short-term in nature as we transition from the old to the new rate. For example, we no longer met the criteria for inclusion in the S&P/TSX Dividend Aristocrats Index due to the reduction in our dividend and were removed from the Index on July 31, 2018. This event caused some forced selling from funds that track this index.
Putting aside the current market activity, we are focused on doing the right things to reposition our Company, which we believe will deliver value for our shareholders over the longer term. This includes investments in advanced advertising to better compete against digital competitors for advertising dollars, diversifying our revenues through initiatives such as our “Own More Content” strategy and most importantly, paying down debt to strengthen our balance sheet. We are very much looking forward to our upcoming presentation at a prominent industry conference on September 12, 2018, where we will update shareholders on the progress we’ve been making against our “Optimize the Core” Plan and on current industry conditions. The live and archive audio from this conference will be accessible via the link below and we do hope you will listen in for an update.