Ann: Metcash Limited 2013 Annual General Meeting , page-8

re: Ann: Metcash Limited 2013 Annual General ... one23,

Actually no - reported EPS was 24c, but underlying EPS was 32.6c. Divs come out of underlying earnings, not statutory earnings.

So 28c div on 32.6c EPS is 86% payout. And the high single digit (somewhere between 6 and 9, so let's say 7.5%, the midpoint) is 30.2 cps. If they maintain the div that's 25.9c div for the year. Which at the current price of $3.26 is still 8% yield fully-franked.

It's not a general sell-off IMO, other than the stop-losses and panickers who got caught up in the rush. The way those trades are going through, it's a big boy (or boys) exiting.

That said, a 7.5% drop in EPS may justify a 5.5% drop in SP. So I think re-assessment is not a bad idea. I have said for a long time now that I would not want to be overexposed to MTS and this is a good reason why.

I don't see any short-term SP trigger other than a bounce on this sell-off. The only thing that's going to break MTS out of this cycle is either an end to this deflationary environment for F&G, or some big growth in the other pillars cancelling out the decline in F&G.

Either that or, as I said before, the ACCC growing a spine and doing something about the anti-competitive behaviour of the duopoly