Well service companies are in a competitive market and there are few "reliable dividend" companies, certainly at this end of the market. And even solid companies can get hammered.
At the risk of stating the obvious, people tend to extrapolate, often unreasonably. From my limited understanding of SSM, management rode the nbn wave, grew rapidly and rewarded their shareholders with dividends. Arguably they maximised shareholder return as best as they could. Now some lucrative revenue streams have dried up they're forging a different path. Will they be successful? I don't know. But as far as I can tell they haven't been particularly poor managers, whenever I looked at the share price (often enough) it always seemed egregiously overpriced compared to others in the sector.
Good luck with your investments. One of my in laws is a similar age to yourself and has had a chequered run with stock picking. They invested for dividends as well but are much happier these days with a selection of reputable LICs and ETFs.
Live long and prosper (and if you're not sure get some professional advice)
SSM Price at posting:
80.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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