If a tree falls in the forest when no one's around, does it make a sound? That's the question investors in Chimera Investment (CIM 1.62%) have been asking themselves in 2012, as it's been more than a year since the truant filer has published a single financial statement for investors to peruse.
For those of you wondering what's happened in the meantime, here's a timeline of the events that shaped Chimera's suspicious year.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Chimera Investment's Investor Relations, and Dari FitzGerald of The Motley Fool.
1. March 1 -- Announces a delay in filing its annual report for 2011 because "additional time is required ... to review the application of GAAP guidance to certain of its non-Agency assets."
2. March 11 -- Board of directors votes to dismiss Deloitte & Touche as independent registered public accounting firm.
3. May 10 -- Misses deadline for filing its first quarter financial report with the SEC, stating that additional time is required to complete the aforementioned review.
4. June 19 -- Declares second-quarter dividend of $0.09 and estimates economic book value of $2.76.
5a. Aug. 7 -- Announces that it will now restate all quarterly and annual financial statements dating back to the third quarter of 2008. This covers roughly 65% of Chimera's entire corporate existence; an additional 25% covers the time since it failed to file financial statements. While the aggregate restatement is purportedly balance sheet-neutral, it will nevertheless decrease the company's net income by a staggering 66% over the period affected.
Source: Chimera Investment's investment relations.
5b. Aug. 7 -- Initiates "regular quarterly dividend" of $0.09 per share for each of the third and fourth quarters of 2012. Says that (emphasis added): "portions of such distributions may be ordinary income, capital gains, or a return of capital."
6. Aug. 10 -- Misses deadline for filing its second-quarter financial report with the SEC.
7. Sept. 13 -- NYSE grants Chimera an extension to continue trading despite the latter's failure to file its annual report for 2011. It now has until Jan. 15 before the NYSE will "move forward with the initiation of suspension and delisting procedures."
8. Sept. 19 -- Declares dividend of $0.09 per share for the third quarter.
9. Nov. 14 -- Misses deadline for filing its third-quarter financial report with the SEC.
10a. November 28 -- Declares dividend of $0.09 per share for the fourth quarter and announces that the board has voted to pay the same amount per share for the first and second quarters of 2013. More importantly, the company stated (emphasis added): "For the first three quarters of 2012, Chimera has paid cash dividends totaling $0.29 per common share. Of this amount, $0.06 is currently expected to be characterized as a return of capital for federal income tax purposes."
10b. November 28 -- Announces that the board of directors has agreed with Chimera's manager, FIDAC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Annaly Capital Management (NLY 0.92%), to "reduce the management fee to 0.75% from 1.50% per annum."
In case you haven't heard...
For those of you who have been following this saga for the past 12 months, much of this may not be news to you. However, for those of you who haven't, I urge you to read any or all of the following articles:
1. 4 Questions Annaly and Chimera Need to Answer
