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From the local news reports that Michelex linked to in their posting regarding the opening of the Massena facility.
Mr. Kakani said he also spoke Thursday night with Rep. William L. Owens (D-Plattsburgh), who offered his support as the company opened.
This is ridiculous, it's like watching the Keystone Cop's trying to run a corporation. It actually would be funny if this was a TV show or play, but it's not so funny if you happen to be a shareholder.
Following is what I've heard second- or third-hand recently. Please advise if I am mistaken:
1) Kakani can not get funding from Michelex (i.e., Saleem) to cover the expense of taking on new contracts.
1A) 90% of the hits on an ITA search are related to Michelex or company search sites. Do they work with any other companies??? (I did see one mention of Young Pharmaceuticals). Do a Google search on 'International Trade Association of America' using a date range prior to the Michelex PR and see what you come up with. Not much.
2) Kakani feels that he might have to go his own separate ways if things do not change.
3) Saleem tells people not to believe Kakani.
4) Lacle is off to Europe to????? Get new contracts? I know that a salesperson does not need to be an expert in regards to what he is selling, but it seems strange that the person who is actually supposed to be running the Pharmaceutical arm of Michelex would not be involved.
5) Lacle will call Kakani who will call Karbo who will then email shareholders.
I appreciate Karbo's sharing information w/ fellow shareholders. However, the fact that we need to rely on another shareholder in order to receive scraps of information is ridiculous. Shareholders should be receiving information directly from management and that information should be disseminated publicly (e.g., via a posting on the company's website). Receiving second-hand information from another shareholder who does not have a fiduciary responsibility in regards to Michelex' operations is not acceptable. I want to be clear that I am not casting any aspersions in regards to Karbo's intentions, but rather noting that management is once again being derelict in regards to their most basic fiduciary responsibilities.
Pathetic...gives them plausible deniability; "That's not what we said/meant."
If you have any GTC orders in to 'load the boat' w/ cheapies in the triple zero's, well, let me just say that maybe people should check to make sure they don't have any old orders that they might have forgotten about.
GLTA
Thanks...don't really see much of anything on the filings. Though it does show that they've been around for awhile. Would be nice if a google search came up w/ announcements of some actual contracts w/ other companies.
Does anyone work w/ a law firm and have access to LexisNexis? Does anyone have an account w/ firms like Dun & Bradstreet that can do a few searches? My guess is that some of you have already done so. If you have, can you share what you found? I've got to run... happy hunting..
Does anyone (Karbo) have access to LexisNexis who can do a search on ITA and Pantchenko? While you are at it, how about Saleem, Lacle and Kakani?
In the news story that Michelex linked to on the website, ITA's president is listed as Maxim Pantchenko. If you do a google search on him you mainly come up w/ hits related to Michelex. IMHO, that's not good.
Watertown Daily News article
Just did a google search on International Trade Association of America:
1) No website.
2) Most hits reference Michelex. IMHO, that's not good.
3) Just dialed the phone number and got the screeching fax sound after 5 or so rings, no answering machine message. EDIT: Wrong number was listed, the phone number is: 727-821-0492. Just called and got an answering machine. Did not leave message. Not too keen about leaving name and number w/ Russian? businessman. Rather have El Cheepo make the call ;)
Rest Easy, ITA is for real:
International Trombone Association
I'm not sure this is a scam. I think it just might be a case of an incredibly incompetent management team that has disdain for shareholders. If it is a scam, they can't even do that right; the price hasn't really risen all that much and the volume hasn't really been that great. Competent scammers would have come up w/ some great sounding contracts, fantastic PR's and videos, had the Massena plant humming long enough for people to think everything was okay, a scam-worth IR outfit and a TELEPHONE NUMBER THAT WORKED!
Of course, if Lacle does return w/ tales of great contracts, let's hope it runs like crazy so we will at least have an opportunity to get out or at least take some money off the table. Unfortunately, I don't think it will run like crazy, but I'll definitely be saying my prayers ;)
Yes, it has always been worrisome, but that is the risk one takes when investing in pinks, especially non-transparent pinks. As of right now, Michelex looks like a house of cards that is about to fall down. If Lacle returns from his trip with tales of great contracts, we will have to try to verify that the contracts are actually valid. As I'm sure you know, a typical pinky-management play is to produce 'contracts' that cannot be verified.
Who knows what is really going on.
In the Draft Audit, there is a liability in the amount of $10,500,000 listed as “Due to Related Party”. The note associated with that debt reads that it is non-interest bearing and due on demand. This liability seems related to the acquisition of United Mortgage Bankers (i.e., Saleem). From Michelex’ press release of July 1, 2010 (yes, the typo error of ‘Bakers’ instead of ‘Bankers’ is in the release):
Thus, it appears that United Mortgage Bankers had $10.5MM dollars that was made available to Michelex. There is a $13.5MM 'Certificate of Deposit' listed as a current asset in the Draft Report. This raises some questions:
1) Did United Mortgage Bankers, or Saleem, actually have $10.5MM or did they 'borrow' that money from some other entity?
2) Assuming that the audit was legit (has anyone verified that Paritz and Company actually performed the audit?), is the $10.5MM still an asset of Michelex or has that money been returned to Saleem (or the entity that may have provided that money)?
A $17.68 transaction w/out fees. Possibly the remaining fill from an order that someone forgot to close out or the partial fill of a new order.
That is why transparency is paramount; w/out transparency, over time, you basically become a typical pinky that is dependent upon momentum-plays.
Filing of the Audited Financials that we have seen in draft form will be meaningless; that news has been out for months and they show revenues of $25K and a net loss of $480K from operations.
Do we have any politically active, large $ contributors to Obama/Dems invested in Michelex? If yes, please secure us a near 1/2 Billion $ contract.
TIA
PS...Yes, I know that Republicans have also fed at the public trough, which is why it is imperative that we don't keep re-filling the trough w/ additional funds.
Cost, need questioned in $433-million smallpox drug deal
A company controlled by a longtime political donor gets a no-bid contract to supply an experimental remedy for a threat that may not exist.
By David Willman, Los Angeles Times
November 13, 2011
Reporting from Washington—
Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work.
Senior officials have taken unusual steps to secure the contract for New York-based Siga Technologies Inc., whose controlling shareholder is billionaire Ronald O. Perelman, one of the world's richest men and a longtime Democratic Party donor.
When Siga complained that contracting specialists at the Department of Health and Human Services were resisting the company's financial demands, senior officials replaced the government's lead negotiator for the deal, interviews and documents show.
When Siga was in danger of losing its grip on the contract a year ago, the officials blocked other firms from competing.
If there's a PR about contracts, trading will occur. However, if all they do is PR a contract w/out addressing all of the other issues, we will end up right back where we started. I don't know how anyone can have any faith in this management team based upon past performance, or lack thereof. JMO
PS..Yes, a PR about contracts would be a step in the right direction, but it's just one step. In fact, it really shouldn't be the first step. The first step should be management providing some guidance on what has happened and what they will do to correct their ineptitude.
I fear that he's extremely competent in only two of those areas ;)
What is your understanding of the purpose of Lacle's visit? Is he there to market Michelex/PPC and hopefully sign contracts for new orders? Is he there to secure additional funding? If the purpose is to drum up sales why isn't Kakani with him?
TIA
Is he there on business related to Michelex or is he there to ride bikes, drink beer and chase women?
Apparently, no one wants to dump their shares at these prices, which makes sense. If they ever get this thing turned around I wonder if AJW will short the crap out of it before letting it run. If I was a sleasy hedge-fund mgr. that's what I'd do if I got wind of an impending turn-around. Regardless of hedge-fund shenanigans, I hope this imbroglio gets resolved fairly soon.
The question is, do they know what they are doing? It is quite obvious that they are totally clueless on how to market and brand a publicly traded stock. IMO, that is partly due to the fact that they consider themselves superior to lowly pink-sheet investors and thus why should they waste their precious time dealing with us until they have to? They probably know that when, if, they ever have a decent company people will invest regardless of whether they are transparent or treated prior investors like dogs. Then again, maybe they really are just incompetent and clueless.
After reading some of Lacle's tweets I fear we are really screwed if he is supposedly the 'adult' in charge. His tweets don't project a competent, seasoned, sales and marketing executive but rather a wealthy adolescent.
1) How can anyone trust this management team? Do you think for one minute that if they thought it was in THEIR best interest to do a RS that they wouldn't out of concern for shareholders? I'm not saying that they will do a RS at this point in time, or that they definitely will do one in the future, I'm just noting that I don't think they'd have any qualms about about screwing shareholders.
2) Given the utter mess that MLXO is right now, even if they filed their financials w/ the SEC, who in their right mind would provide funding? What would they be funding, a three-ring circus?
It's been clear for months that Michelex' management does not care about shareholders. In this respect they are unfortunately like many pink management teams. However, the reason they did a RM was to make money. Does anyone have any idea how they plan to do so going forward? It doesn't appear that they were just trying to run a pump and dump scam; if they were, they did a pathetic job of it.
This is not a 'pump and dump', at least not a typical one or one that was done 'properly'. IMHO, this is just a case of having an incredibly inept management team, and one that apparently is working at cross-purposes.
Not true. The board can always authorize more shares. That is why having an un-gagged TA is critical w/ pinkies. Having said that, even if they have authorized additional shares, there is no evidence that they've dumped shares in the past and it makes no sense to dump shares at these levels.
PS...In addition, they could always dilute via a RS: RS then print additional shares.
Printing shares at this point in time won't do much anyway. With all pinks, there is always the possibility of a RS (given the makeup of the board, of course), but that doesn't make sense at this point in time either.
The company may be a joke/mess, but I don't think much, if any, dilution has occurred.
Pathetic...just pathetic..
Somewhat surprising that the share price hasn't cratered recently. Must be that because most people are under water and don't want to sell at a loss and figure they've got nothing to lose by hanging onto their shares.
That is the key.
Let's assume that mgt. works together and they get some new orders, fulfill them and the price is in the .03 range (could be higher or lower, but let's just go w/ .03). IMHO, if they also became transparent and responsive to investors' needs, my guess is that MLXO would be trading at least a couple of pennies higher. Why? Reduced risk (at least a perception of reduced risk) w/out a reduction in reward. In fact, most investors would actually increase their expected pay-off. Less Risk + Higher Reward = Higher Share Price. It's pretty simple, and unless management has something to hide, I can't understand why they would not want a higher share price. Of course, the first order of business is for management to agree on what the business model is!
I don't think it hits .03 and stays around that level until they get a few decent contracts and prove that they can deliver product on time and clear up the rumors regarding Saleem not allowing funding to flow to Kakani/PPC. It very well may run to .03 with news of new contracts, but that will just be momentum driven and temporary. Of course, JMO.
PS..Of course, at this juncture, I'm sure many people would love the opportunity to get out at .03 or at least substantially reduce their holdings. Michelex is a mess right and its future very cloudy due to a dysfunctional management team. Not saying that they can't turn it around, just that right now it's a mess.
That might be the only thing that is good right now. Would be better if Saleem and Kakani were tight and on the same page.
See my recent posts. It appears that Michelex has listed the debt associated with AJW in their 'Draft of Final Audit'. However, AJW is not associated with that debt in the Draft Audit. I believe that AJW is the creditor.
Regarding Cornell and Michelex, rumor had it that Cornell drove the stock price down. I don't know if that is true, and if it was true, there could be numerous motives for their doing so. In addition, I do not know if Tom or Michelex ever actually borrowed funds from Cornell.
As I noted in a recent post, I do not believe Michelex' current problems are related to liabilities that existed prior to the RM. IMHO, Michelex' current problems are due to the stewardship, or lack thereof, of the current management team.