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Any bonus would be absurd. The changed from the 120k version of a CEO to the $250+ version and he lost $4Millliooon since taking over.
In terms of vision, the industry is heading to wireless devices, secure authentication and NFC. Viscount has a strong portfolio in this area that they should have invested in. Instead he spent their R&D money on a new version of their old intercom that will be lucky to bring in a few hundred k/year. Get it?
I agree with you last point but that's why he has to go.
Finally, the markets don't lie. There are obviously people closer to the company than we are who are selling (including new investors who are taking their lumps to dump) and the stock is down about 80%. For example, their chart was fairly stable until last Sept. when the latest round of investors became unrestricted and then the slide. These guys received some warrants so since things were looking softish I'd guess that some started selling around cost and left the warrants for their profits later.
My guess is that the CEO is having some bad days and the investment bank is getting some what the *&%^% calls.
The volume of selling is really peanuts. It's pretty sad when a stock can lose $500K in market cap on volume of about $2K.
There were posters who warned a year ago that a management change in itself may not have been a disaster but that the team selected had a pretty bad track record, at least for the past 15 years or so. The board sowed, now they are reaping and the rest of us shareholders are simply weeping.
We are not mislead about the prospects a year ago, just about the ability of the new CEO to deliver after the coup.
So, my biggest concern is that they have a CEO who really doesn't understand the technology or industry direction, a team with no vision or direction and a board who are probably good guys but not tech savvy and who will listen to another two years of excuses in dealing with this mess until it's too late. At least they have a new board chair and perhaps some sensibility is coming.
PS. Last year they filed their proxy on April 23 so we should know the rest of the story soon, like what kind of bonuses the CEO made to kill 80% of the market cap of the company.
I see Viscount got another order for 3 systems from USCIS. I guess it's good they haven't gotten some type of blanket order for all 200 as promised because they'd only have a single news release for the next 5 years.
I heard today that Raefield hired a whack of sales staff last year bunch but never gave them the basic tools for success... a basic marketing program or leads to pursue. In fact he cancelled, everything. I was told that the 10k has a bunch of lies.. omg.
For example its marketing strategy includes:
Webinars - Viscount has been concentrating on webinars to educate the industry about Freedom. The response has been excellent with audiences from several hundred up to 800 registered attendees per webinar.
Apparently this was the case for 2013 and that's where they were getting their commercial business. The great administrator cancelled all webinars for 2014. Nothing like cancelling marketing programs that work.
Advertising - Products are advertised on an ongoing basis in various print publications, which the Company will continue to do. We have been testing new publications on a regular basis to evaluate response, sales and readership. All leads are followed up, and magazines are rated based on a dollar sale per advertising dollar spent ratio. While the sales cycle is sometimes fairly long, this approach has given the Company a very accurate measure of the effectiveness of various publications and individual ads.
Number of industry publication ads in 2014. Apparently Zero.
Direct Marketing - The Company continued educating customers about Freedom technology by holding Freedom and Liberty training seminars throughout the U.S. and at our head office via the internet.
Number of US roadshow and training days in the US for 2014. Zero.
Tradeshows - The company did 2 tradeshows but Raefield and crew apparently screwed up their show marketing and booth traffic was down dramatically over previous years.
Distribution Plan - With the addition of our Liberty product line, new security distributors were added who sell the Liberty line in the open security market or to smaller dealers on a non-exclusive basis. These new distribution deals, along with the existing dealer base, gave the Company immediate access to the largest networks of dealers in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Apparently they had the largest distributors in the US signed up and had a big stocking order at the end of 2013. Unfortunately Raefield changed Liberty and the pricing and the deals have mostly fallen apart. The guy who they hired to manage distribution has left the company, partly because Raefield also put no marketing $$ into supporting the programs.
We all know the sales cycle for Freedom can be a year. Q4 dropped 35%. This is a result of the US Gov't not giving Raefield his Hail Mary and doing no real marketing going back to the start of the year. This bodes badly for 2015 and intercoms won't change that.
Raefield is a 1960's guy and maybe back then his methods worked better. Perhaps Encyclopedia Brittanica is looking for someone to drive their door to door sales. I know the perfect candidate. Ooops. I just did a google search and they stopped printing in 2010.
I was just thinking today that this company only went public to move away from intercom systems because there's no real money in them and big money in access control. Then we're told the CEO was replaced because they thought Raefield would be better at executing the business plan..... and the only thing he comes up with is a new model of the old Enterphone system. How more messed up can this thing get?
Looks like we headed for a sustainable 2-3 cent range. Go Raefield Go.
I agree. I would also guess that if that had spent $12k to promote the stock for the past few months instead of spending it on someone to answer the odd phone call we wouldn't see .026 trades like today. If the $12k as per the 10k is correct I bet they've had less than a dozen calls - $1K/call.
As far as guidance goes I have a copy of last years Board of Directors AGM powerpoint that was posted to the company website and then removed. If Raefield is held accountable for what he promised them he's screwed. If anyone would like a refresher of what was presented to the board can look it up.
I must respectfully disagree with one point. Whatever revenue they are hoping for may hurt sales overall.
The Enterphone EIEIO is a classic product extension. As Raefield noted in the press release it's the same old product at a slightly lower price. Product extensions come with pitfalls. Firstly, the new product might simply cannibalize the old. It's rare but this type of strategy can actually decrease revenues ( for example if every customer simply buys the cheaper model sales of the premium model collapse). The company will also have increased costs ( 2 sets of marketing materials, accounting costs, 2 sets of inventory, 2 sets of techncical manuals etc.)
I searched Enterphone IQ and it looks like a MESH product, not Enterphone so I'm confused anyways. More nonsense. Raefield can't or hasn't bothered to market Freedom so I have no confidence in whatever this guy does anyways.
Looking forward to another exciting week of vsys. Raefield has this thing on fumes and has sold off the accounts receivable to buy time to do a 5 cent financing. There's $2M of pissed off 9 cent investors from last year wondering whups up. Perhaps he'll try some IMSC type toxic debt. Oh, my hopes and dreams of the great administrator doing anything right faded after last years AGM presentation. He did exactly what he said he'd do and I'm sure the new desks look fabulous. But hope rings eternal. The board knows somethings rotten since we have a new Chairman. I'll be a bit patient and if we're lucky we'll find out that the board will soon deliver the shareholders a wrapped fish with the initials DR, figuratively at least.
It's better than that. The CEO of a CDN company is paid in US so that's not $175K, it's about $220K. The other part is that they are paying living expenses also as US dollars when the expenses are in Canada (how cool is that) to the tune of $5K/month or $75K/yr for a total package of about $300K.
Better yet, once they become barely profitable 4% on any Q it goes to $250 US and in addition a bonus plan kicks in of 30-50% more US.
In essence if at any time this year Raefield cooks the books to have a profitable Q this $5M company could have a CEO making around $500K/yr. Unbelievable, regrettable and people warned us when he wormed his way in.
Oops I forgot to include the company gets to pay for his wife to fly to Vancouver every month - throw in another $10k+/year for the investors to pay for the Raefield Vancouver sightseeing plan.
Interesting that they took a year to reveal the real details. This is could be a violation of SEC law.
I noticed that Pineau was still on the board when this abortion was signed but he didn't sign off, no wonder.
PS. I kinda miss our bargain basement CEO who took in about $120 - Canadian.
Awesome, Raefield skipped toxic financing and when straight to receivables factoring. I guess he was right during the 2015 AGM when he said that under his leadership the company would never have to raise capital again. Bankrupt companies don't need cash. Go VSYS.
Could be worse. Based on their burn rate and receivables balance he simply sold off whatever profit was in the receivables to keep his checks coming for 2-3 months.
I tried to send the same question several times but seemed to get a bounce that the email provided was not active. Either they chose not to answer questions or another screw up where they asked us to send email to an inactive address.
10k now posted. " Management has estimated that the Company will need to raise a minimum of $1,500,000 by way of new debt or equity financing to continue normal operations for the next twelve months. These factors raise substantial doubt about the ability of the Company to continue operations as a going concern."
So much for cash is great and they won't need to do a raise.
Here we go again. As a impatient, non-traditional investor all I see is that Raefield stabilized the stock from .15 down to .05 and we're all out 2/3 of our investment. I can't handle any more stabilization.
Can't wait. I'm already wondering who he'll be blaming for the stock price.
Nice volume and movement for vsys today. Maybe someone decided not to get a haircut and bought stock instead.
The workload of being the Chairman of a $4M company must be staggering. I must congratulate Raefield for "stepping down" as Chairman to focus on the expected rapid growth of the company.
On the other hand I noticed that since Raefield bounced Pineau last Feb., Viscount added 3 new board members including Siegel and one of Raefield's gang Paul Brisgone resigned the board on Feb 17.
So it could be that it is no coincidence that this happened just 2 weeks after the Raefield board lost their numerical advantage?
IT appears Mr. Siegel is a great choice for the company however and may put some sense into things.
Mr. straight and narrow strikes again as per the filing on Friday.
"The Company issued to Dendera Capital Fund LP (whose principal is Geoffrey Arens, a director of the Company) 2,925,000 shares of common stock of the Company on January 20, 2015. The Company intended to issue to Dendera Capital Fund LP 200 shares of Series A Convertible Redeemable Preferred Stock of the Company (the "A Shares"). The Company has rectified this error by issuing to Dendera Capital Fund LP 200 A Shares of the Company."
How do you issue 2.9M shares of common stock when you intended to issue 200 shares of Class A? This is absurd or Raefield screwed up.. again. Obviously after the fact Mr. Arens decided he'll make more $$ getting Class A dividends or something like that.
Well if it is uncomfortable being honest with your shareholders I guess it's better thinking shareholders are stupid.
I'm anticipating the stock close for tomorrow. Last year Mar 3 closed at .15. Now I recall the initial exuberance of last year and the hero worship of having a real pro in charge so am hoping that those bulls come out of the woodwork to get this thing past .15.
On the other hand there's my favorite quote about patience:
Confucious say "If an egg never hatches you can't call it a chicken"
Now you're getting it. This patent is awesome. Let's say General Motors decides to implement a new car ignition system using cell phones and NFC. Viscount may have a claim etc. This is one Broad patent that could possibly be critical at some point to dozens of types of multi-nationals.
I don't believe there are any similar patents or technology. Viscount received FIPS 201-2 approval last year through the GSA. FIPS 201-2 was updated in 2013 to allow cell phones/nfc to be used as credentials instead of cards BUT there was no technology that provided this for door security. Viscount has the patents and technology. It's up to them to drive it and I'm not sure they have the management that understands what the old CEO knew.
This technology may not be for everyone but if they got enough US Gov't buyin then the game is on. Viscount first showed how to eliminate control panels using bridges. Now they eliminate the other big cost, the reader.
AS I mentioned, if the market goes this way Viscount still has a $100M future and a very big buyout at the end of the rainbow.
I absolutely envisage people using their phones. It's about the math.
The scenarios are simple. Viscount places a $10 chip at each door instead of a $3,000 biometric reader. Or places a $10 chip instead of an $600 RFID reader. Nothing to be serviced or go obsolete... What would you prefer as the owner?
See typical reader below:
http://www.securitystoreusa.com/Bioscrypt-PIV-Station-is-a-FIPS-201-compliant-biom-p/1009039.htm
Viscount can then sell the patented software as a mobile download app and that is where the big money is.
As far as I know there is no competition and if there is Great.. because they can all pay Viscount license fees because Viscount owns the patents.
PS. I don't think this will have much impact on the price of the stock short term. Hell Viscount didn't even read their own patent for the news release. But in the longer run this could be the best lottery ticket the company owns.
OMG. This is absolutely amazing. I need to make a few points on the news release since I just read the patent. One of the main reasons I bought this stock was because of Pineau's web demo on this.
I saw that Raefield was the last name listed on the inventors but it must have been a pity listing since the news release doesn't even mention the most awesome part of the patent. I am dumbfounded that possibly the most important news release in the company's history is sent out as a mish mash QR code thing.
This patent could be an absolute game changer. The guy who though this up was some kind of genius. In summary, if Viscount is right this patent is worth a fortune.
1. It gives Viscount ownership of using the NFC chips that are now in all cell phones to open doors etc.
2. It gives Viscount ownership of using NFC chips combined with cell phone biometrics to open doors etc.
One of the biggest costs for any access system is the cost of door readers. Biomteric readers can be huge money. This patent basically says that if Viscount is right all reader companies are out of business and replaced by a mobile app. Wow.
I post on another company board and Liscouski is on their board as well. I read a post there regarding Liscouski and Secure Strategy Group. Liscouski was a partner of SSG along with Scott Greiper at the time Liscouski came onto the IMSC board and I noticed that Howard Safir is on the IMSC board and still an SSG advisor.
I've read news that IMSC is an SSG client and was just wondering if anyone recalls what the deal was and if the relationship was successful. Did SSG arrange for the DMJR LOC financing or something to get the 2 board seats?
My point exactly.
Haven't paid much attention to this stock since that lame AGM powerpoint last May. Stupid me, should have sold out after seeing the new BUZZ "infinity and beyond" CEO in action. On the other hand the AGM PPT was all about hiring people and fixing desks and computers. Since it appears they've accomplished their hiring targets ( not sure about repairing the desks) perhaps the BOD will reward the CEO wish a raise and bonuses. Since the Board must have approved his AGM goals for the year and they had nothing to do with profitability, revenue growth or strategic accomplishments he shouldn't be penalized for the dismal stock price or financial failure.
I would disagree with anyone who says "the brothers" have taken the shareholders for a ride. The company hasn't had the cash to do any corporate hayrides. Their job has been to keep the doors open and they've done that.. barely. Kudos at least for that.
At this point I don't care whether enigma, or the copper gold deposits are real. They only need to dump $300K into a big IR campaign and convince people that it's real. Get this sucker up to $8. They could end up doing a bit of time but we'll all be laughing. lol
I was sent a list of security stocks to evaluate but am on the sharp picket fence for this one. Between huge accumulated and ongoing losses, a scary debt structure, absurd executive compensation, lack of insider ownership and a history of undelivered promises that seems to stretch back 20 years can someone point to the one thing that makes this stock a buy? I understand the approvals and idiq contract but the expectations from these seem to be built into the inflated stock price.
I was in and out of this stock last Nov. and was thinking of taking another nibble. Yet the share structure, debt structure, executive compensation, overhead expenses, and history of losses seem ugly etc. etc. My biggest concern is that it almost appears that even if the TSA fully fulfills the IDIQ they'd still be in the red. So, does anyone have a clue what their projected revenue break-even might be.