STKO DD/UPDATES/CEO&BOA PROFILES/LINKS in a nutshell: 14C to be filed regarding AS reduction:
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sep 24, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Stakool, Inc. (OTCQB:STKOD), a developer of health and wellness products, announced that it has recently approved an amendment to its Articles of Incorporation reducing the number of Authorized Shares from 4,000,000,000 down to 975,000,000. The company will be filing a 14C and the reduction of shares should be effective upon its acceptance.
Kevin P. Quirk, CEO of Stakool was quoted as saying, "Reducing the Authorized Shares should enhance investor confidence while eliminating any illusion of dilution."In addition, the company will begin the process for a name change as well as a new symbol to better align and more clearly communicate our vision, mission and values. When these changes are made, the company will apply for a new CUSIP number.
The Company continues to move ahead with recently announced acquisition of high-pressure processor and development of its new Consumer Product Group.
High Pressure Processing (HPP) has shown to reduce bacteria such as Listeria, E.coli, and Salmonella in packaged refrigerated products as diverse as ready-to-eat meats and raw ground beef and poultry; fresh fruits, juices, and smoothies; soups, wet salads, and sauces; and seafood and shellfish.
Letter to Shareholders / Company intends to reduce the AS from 4 billion to 975 million
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sep 07, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Mr. Kevin Quirk, CEO of Stakool, Inc. (OTCBB:STKO), made the following announcement:
Dear Shareholder,
In an effort to continually keep our shareholders and interested parties informed, Stakool Inc.'s Board of Directors and management would like to update everyone on the current status of the Corporation.
Great progress continues on our previously announced acquisitions as we undergo the necessary duty of completing our due diligence. Completing the audited financials on our target acquisitions is crucial as it is required by the SEC. We are excited to announce that under the currently signed letter of intent, our primary acquisition, which is one of the leaders in High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP), is scheduled to close on or before November 1, 2013. ........................................................
Over the next several quarters we will begin to introduce new product lines and increase our order flow through new and existing customers. We will also pursue strategic vendor partnerships and marketing alliances in order to encourage maximum success. Finally, the company intends to reduce the amount of authorized common shares to 975 million once the reverse is effective.
In an effort to better launch this new strategy the company plans on conducting a restructuring of the company's publicly traded common stock. The Board of Directors has elected this move to provide room for our acquisition growth strategy, and to enable us to close on the acquisition of our new core HPP technology. The Company believes this move should enhance value for our shareholders as the new structure will be accompanied by a water division, a new consumer products division, and revenue producing HPP operations.
The Board believes that the Stockholders of the Company will benefit from the Reverse Stock Split because it believes that such Reverse Stock Split could be a catalyst for an increase in the stock price of the Common Stock, which in turn could increase the marketability and liquidity of the Company’s Common Stock, as well as increase the profile of the Company for private investment, acquisitions and other future opportunities that become available to the Company.
Accordingly, it is the Board’s opinion that the Reverse Stock Split would better position the Company to attract potential business candidates and provide the Stockholders a greater potential return.
Stakool, Inc. Announces Entry Into High Pressure Food Processing (HPP) Market, Unveils Consumer Products Division
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Aug 06, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Stakool, Inc. (OTCQB:STKO), a developer of health and wellness products, announced strategic plans for entry into the High Pressure Food Processing market, while unveiling new consumer products division.
At the center of the Company's new strategy is the High Pressure Processing (HPP) market. High Pressure Processing (HPP) is a rapidly growing method of food processing where food is subjected to elevated pressures (up to 87,000 pounds per square inch or approximately 6,000 atmospheres), without the addition of heat, to achieve microbial inactivation or to alter the food attributes in order to achieve consumer-desired qualities. Pressure inactivates most vegetative bacteria at pressures above 60,000 pounds per square inch.... .................................
Enters into a Letter of Intent
Stakool has entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) with one of the top high pressure processors in the US. The Company is currently doing approximately $5 million in annual revenues, with an upward capacity for up to $12 to $15 million annually.
Stakool Inc., best known for offering health and wellness products, is delving into high-pressure food processing, and launching a consumer products division.
On Aug. 06, 2013, the Company announced plans to acquire one of the largest high-pressure food processors (HPP) in the US. The first thing investors should look at is what is the value of this new acquisition to its shareholders. In their release they stated new acquisition was currently doing approximately $5 million in annual revenues, with an upward capacity for up to $12 to $15 million annually. If based on these current operations, and future growth potential, it would be very justifiable to label the value of this new entity at $5 million on low end, to $10 million+ on the high end.
Products Division Could be Worth 10's of Millions
This is the area investors really need to focus in on as this consumer products group could easily mean tens to hundreds of millions in shareholder value. The HPP acquisition is a good deal with solid operating revenues, but for some who are not understanding, the consumer products group is where we could see incredible value and growth.
As example, if you acquire some small organic food brand or product say doing $800,000 a year in annual revenues, that's not to bad. But if you run these products through their HPP system, develop their marketing and branding, and expand their distribution from local to nationally, you could see a product go from $800,000 to potentially several million per year. Build a portfolio of 5 to 10 to 20 products and you can quickly see the growth potential and plan Mr. Quirk, the CEO, is putting together.
Jul 09, 2013 (ACCESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Company Believing that Water is a Key Strategic Tool and a Finite Resource Enters into an LOI to Buy Indian Hills Spring Water Company, LLC
JACKSONVILLE, FL, July 9, 2013 - (eTeligis via ACCESSWIRE) -- Stakool, Inc. (OTCQB: STKO) (OTCBB: STKO), a Florida-based corporation supplying natural and organic health and wellness products, entered into a Letter of Intent (LOI) to buy Indian Hills Spring Water, LLC, of Murphy, North Carolina. The spring is a "natural free flowing spring" in the mountains of North Carolina and is gravity fed to the bottling facility. It is clear, crisp and refreshing and 100% drinkable without any filtration thus providing the perfect "Raw Water."
"I believe that water management is a key strategic tool where companies are starting to gather the kind of information that lets them measure not just their water use and costs but also their water efficiency, productivity, revenue, and profit." said Kevin P. Quirk, Stakool CEO. "Every gallon of water we use has an economic value, whether it's for drinking, brewing coffee, or making a microchip. Businesses that start to take the economic value of water seriously immediately start to use it and think about it differently. Indian Hills understands this and we look forward to a quick closing as this is the first step in a broader more encompassing strategy," concluded Quirk.
Other assets include 23 acres, plant, trucks, dispensing equipment, bottles, and customer lists that will make a huge impact on the Stakool Balance Sheet as well as bolster its P&L. This acquisition is also the first step of many towards Stakool's ultimate strategy of becoming a significant player in health and wellness technologies and consumables.
About Indian Hill:
Located in Murphy, NC, Indian Hills is a provider of bottled water that has been serving the public since 2000. As a leader in the bottle water industry, they produce and distribute a complete line of both Branded and Non-Branded (Private Label) bottled water solutions. Their bottled water solutions are available in a variety of sizes and types that range from 8oz, 12oz, 16.9oz, 20oz and 1L in single serve bottles to 3 gallon and 5 gallon home/office delivery. So whatever your needs are, you can count on Indian Hills Springs to deliver excellent selection, reliable customer service and unbeatable value.
Jun 25, 2013 (ACCESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Company Building Senior Executive Bench Strength to Focus on Health and Wellness Food & Beverage Category
JACKSONVILLE, FL, June 25, 2013 - Stakool, Inc. (OTCQB: STKO) (OTCBB: STKO), a Florida-based corporation supplying natural and organic health and wellness products, announced the appointment of Steve Hutcherson, Keith Pardy and Susan Knox to its Board of Advisor's further reinforcing its desire to become a significant player in the high margin, high growth "better for you" food and beverage category.
Steve Hutcherson, a seasoned CPG and agency executive, brings extensive experience in identifying and adding value in client and agency environments, reimagining marketing and its evolution, especially what people will expect and how they will interact with the brands they use and love. His career is characterized by finding new revenue streams, approaches, innovations, experiences - with change management as a competency throughout. Steve was a 20 year Coca-Cola veteran in brand and operations management - including VP of Coca-Cola TM in a career where he oversaw product and package intros, such as the Contour bottle, "Fridge Pack," and Coca-Cola Trademark extensions like Vanilla Coke. He directed campaigns and integrated communications platforms for Coca-Cola and across multiple other brands, and developed properties ranging from the Coca-Cola Racing Family for NASCAR, to new activation programs from the Olympics to NFL to NCAA to American Idol. Throughout his Coca-Cola tenure he led teams to redefine value and capitalize on new value equations and new marketplace needs: whether new package forms, brands, content and campaigns, interactive and associative platforms, or the brand positioning's themselves. Steve also has extensive experience within marketing services organizations, from agencies to consultancy, holding senior leadership positions in full service and experiential agencies: leading strategic planning within a "compass point office" of a large global advertising concern; CMO for the activation arm of a global marketing asset agency; brand management lead within a marketers' advisory group; and country president for an independent experiential agency.
Keith Pardy, a global branding and technology executive has 25 years in brand development and an understanding in the convergence of all things digital. Keith was the Chief Marketing Officer at Research in Motion. Prior to RIM, Keith was SVP of Global Brand Management for Nokia in Helsinki, Finland. For 17 years Keith's was with The Coca-Cola Company, where he worked as a Managing Director / Marketing Director working in North America, Russia, Sweden, Spain and London. In his last assignment with The Coca-Cola Company, Keith was Vice President and Managing Director for the Global Emerging Brands. Keith is now refocusing his energy and investments on innovation that positively impacts peoples' daily life.
Susan Knox, a strategic consultant and corporate coach and founder of Corporate Connections, a business consulting firm that makes targeted introductions that accelerate growth and generate revenue for emerging growth and established companies. Ms. Knox excels in making connections to qualified Investors, Intermediaries, Key Decision Makers, Influencers and Industry Experts to facilitate Capital Raising Efforts, Sales, Distribution, Partnerships, Strategic Alliances and Channel strategy. Knox also provides philanthropic support to many organizations and has served as a director of the Board of the Buckhead Business Association, and currently serves as a director on the Board of Prevent Blindness Georgia and Executive Sales and Marketing Association. Ms. Knox is the Executive Director for The Ritz Group in Atlanta Georgia.
"I am extremely excited and humbled that I not only have the ears and minds of these top executives but more importantly their trust in me and my vision," said Kevin P. Quirk, CEO of Stakool. "Attracting such executive talent further validates my belief that we have the right strategy and the right plans to become a significant player in the $30 billion Health & Wellness food and beverage category," continued Quirk.
CEO Kevin Quirk's Profile: Profile from Forbes.com
Kevin P. Quirk assumes this position with more than two decades of consumer products operating experience spanning general management and senior marketing roles in Fortune 500 corporations and start-up ventures. As CEO he is responsible for determining Capsalus' strategic direction and managing performance against overall business objectives in keeping with the Company's mission. Quirk is the founder of White Hat Holdings LLC, a functional beverage manufacturer focused on children's health and wellness issues, which he sold to Capsalus earlier this year after raising multiple rounds of financing and stewarding the business to a successful exit. Before White Hat, he held a variety of senior-level marketing positions for The Coca-Cola Company, initially hired into the Coca-Cola Accelerated Program, the company's coveted management training program, from which he was charged with running the New England market. He also served as director of marketing for Minute Maid brands prior to his departure. In addition, Quirk spent nearly a decade at Anheuser-Busch, working in brand management, field sales and marketing, wholesaler development and strategic planning, most notably as market development manager of the Wisconsin territory, and as founder of the company's business development group, providing internal management consulting to a network of more than 800 distributors. Quirk earned a BS in marketing and a BA in communications from Saint Louis University, and a letter of MBA equivalence from Harvard Business School.
Quirk founded White Hat Brands, a health and wellness beverage company, where he raised capital, developed products and gained distribution, winning multiple marketing awards along the way. Quirk later oversaw the sale of White Hat which was sold privately for approximately thirty million dollars ($30,000,000).
Kevin's Mgmt Philosophy:
Interesting insight into CEO Kevin's mgmt style and philosophy from a previous question and answer with White Hat and Capsalus:
CEOCFO: How do you find companies and what is your criteria for deciding who fits with your business model? Mr. Quirk: To date we’ve been fortunate to find well-suited companies through trusted partners. We seek companies that are “gazelle enterprises” -- companies that have the ability to grow fast, that are focused on the health, wellness and goodness sector and have something unique to offer. These are not “me too” companies that are going to require a gazillion dollars to gain the traction necessary to succeed; rather, they require less capital because they have developed such innovative products and services that – with our help – we expect them to catch fire to where bigger financial partners will come in and back-stop us.
CEOCFO: Do you find it hard to convince the owner/creator/founders that they are not the right one to take the company to the next level? Mr. Quirk: That is a great question. The answer to that is both yes and no. As fellow operators, we are not going to go and beat you up and tell you all of the terrible things you are doing wrong. My management style has always been about business discipline and performance management. Once you start asking the right questions, these entrepreneurs realize you know what they don’t, and we are here to help them. They also understand that with our help they have a much better shot at being successful. That’s not to say we don’t get push-back -- it’s not easy telling somebody their baby isn’t perfect, but we work through it. Part of our criteria in evaluating prospects is that, if you are not willing to listen, participate and be open, then you are not the right fit for us.
Kevin Quirk's Compensation agreement from 8K: Salaried Penny CEO with a deferred salary until he brings in $250k in funding. What kind of penny CEO takes that on unless there is something coming?????
During the Term, the Company will pay Mr. Quirk (i) a base salary (the “Base Salary”) of $160,000 per annum, increasing by 5% per annum on January 1 of each year to reflect cost of living increases and (ii) a bonus (the “Bonus” and, together with the Base Salary, “Total Compensation”), ranging from 0% to 150% of the Base Salary, based on the Company’s achievement of certain performance targets. Under the Employment Agreement, Total Compensation shall accrue until the Company has received funding of at least $250,000, and as of such time all accrued amounts shall become due and payable.
Under the direction of Kevin Quirk, the Company’s recently appointed Chief Executive Officer, the Company anticipates leveraging management’s experience and knowledge of the natural food and beverage industry. The vertical integration of this knowledge of the natural food and beverage industry will allow for the better redeployment of the Natural plus Energy product line, and will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of the distribution channels and retail positioning. In addition, the natural food and beverage market continues to grow at a relatively substantial pace, and allows for the introduction of many functional food and beverage products.
Our management team will explore all aspects of the all-natural functional food and beverage industry, and effectively integrate and develop products tailored to those markets. The management team feels confident that its understanding of the market will allow for the addition of several functional food and beverage products within the next 24-36 months that effectively capitalize on our knowledge and experience, and are capable of developing velocity throughout the all-natural retail market space. The Company has access to a talented packaging and design team that will assist in the future development of well-conceived products and the appropriate consumer packaging that will allow for rapid consumer interest, appeal and adoption.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
