Odd drop in the share price in advance of the ex dividend date,...

Odd drop in the share price in advance of the ex dividend date, 5.15 to 4.88 yesterday.

Some of the drops in Jan may relate to AUD movements.  IPH, XIP and QIP invoice many clients in USD and profits go down as the AUD goes up. In Jan AUD was 72c and now it is around 77c, approx. 9% increase.  However, there was not a large change in the AUD rate yesterday.

I did some searching and identified a new downside risk, IPAustralia and the Professional Standards Board (PSB) announced a review of conflict issues relating to the consolidation by IPH etc.  It appears the business model of owning multiple patent attorney firms is at risk.  The report is underway and is due in April 2017.

https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/about-us/news-and-community/news/professional-standards-board-conflict-interest-review

I understand courts have rejected such arrangements in the past.  Dentons Gap case rejected a “Swiss Verein” structure whereby practices operate under the same name but are “financially and operationally” separate.  The Denton ruling held “This inaction shows disregard for the rules of professional conduct.”

https://www.ipethicslaw.com/the-meg...ices-good-and-more-conflicts-of-interest-bad/

It would be worse if the practices are not financially or operationally separate, which may be the situation given the overarching control of IPH.