OK, let's look at this again. We have been told that the chance of doing an acquisition of 50-100 K new accounts in the 2nd half of 2013 is very good.

We have money in the bank. The question is, How will we pay for the acquisition ??

If we use mostly cash on hand, then we end up with greater cash flow per share and if the divy stays the same , then the payout ratio drops. This is what Scotia says will likely happen. George Doumet says that a 75K account acquisition could reduce the payout ratio from 76% to 70% in 2014. I like that !!

If however, we issue shares to buy the new account business, we would end up with greater cash flow , but also have to pay out more due to the higher share count, potentially having no effect on the payout ratio. That is of course assuming that we don't pay too much for the acquisition.

Rico