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Spec, I'm not even a CPA and I could do the financials for MRIB in about ten minutes but not with the cooking needed. It's child's play. They just don't want to let those numbers out or can't figure out how to hide the ugly truth. Face it. They lost 90% of Costco most likely a month or more ago. Convertibles coming up and they can't release and they haven't in order to protect the conversions which MRIB insiders all share in. No reason for it other than hiding the truth and facts.
"this far with a product"? How far has she gotten in over a decade? $2500 in sales? I make that in five billable cut rate hours! What is the definition of "this far"? $32 million spent with no results? Wake up Gold. There has been no progress and no advancement. Just more debt and more trouble. Margrit is not working hard. She's taking luxury vacations and sucking money out of MRIB. There are NO SALES. She fired everyone just like four years ago and now all the money is for her. Please, please do tell us her accomplishments. You have provided zero to date, just hype and blind faith that she is working hard despite no results. It's starting to sound like a friend of Margrit trying to defend her on no supporting information despite her failings and MRIB results. Name one success?
I don't have any idea what the order process for Costco is and it doesn't matter. You're trying to distract from the point with some absurd theory that Costco doesn't track inventory, sales or orders. Are you serious? Costco, like any big retailer, has a centralized integrated corporate/store wide system that allows stores to check all the details on any given product, availability, etc. Been that way for thirty years and more. Wal-Mart can tell you where a box of gum is at any given time even if it's on a truck. Go tell Costco that some two bit regional distributor knows more about Costco inventory control, sales and ordering than they do and you'd be laughed out of the room. Get real.
Every retail company in the world has a similar inventory control network. Call a Macy's store for a pair of shoes. If they don't have them they'll tell you where they are in stock near you, when a new order is expected or move them from one store to your local store for purchase. It's modern commerce man. If you think it works any other way you're living in 1970 with distributors working with paper catalogs, telephones and batch processing data centers and an IBM 360. Really?
Call your local O'Reilly Auto Parts and ask for a master relay for a 2011 Chevy Tahoe. They'll tell you exactly where, when and how many they have in any given location in a matter of seconds. What's being represented is just an excuse for MRIB incompetence and the loss of Costco. I'm sure it was due more to lack of sales but all the same, the system showed only one re-order in the last month and no re-orders on record. They're not sold out. They returned whatever product they had left most likely. Why would they leave the shelves empty for a month except for one store? Probably because that one store is less than a mile from Margrit and her cronies in Little Armenia and I think they're buying their own product just to be able to keep saying they are in Costco. To lose Costco altogether would be devastating.
This is not true. For certain retailers we know EXACTLY what the sales are through online systems for ordering which tracks inventory in real time. And we also know what MRIB was selling in 14 Costco stores previously and nothing changed to have any significant impact on sales other than we don't know when the remaining 13 stores seemed to have pulled the product. The only outlook is logically to the downside and factually supported.
And did Margrit not work hard for the previous 14 years she's been trying to peddle vodka? Because she has a long track record of nothing paying off over more than a decade other than enriching herself through stock operations. I seriously doubt Margrit has put in a hard day's work in her entire life.
The stores know nothin? Are you kidding? Costco has one of the most comprehensive and efficient inventory control systems in the world. It may not be Wal-Mart but every store knows exactly what's in stock, how much of it they have and any product on order and that goes for their own store and any other within a given vicinity and its all n a real time basis. To say the distributor knows Costco inventory better than Costco is so patently absurd that it boggles my mind. Also, I wouldn't believe the rinky dink distributor as far as I could throw a piano as they are most likely in cahoots with MRIB on keeping this charade going. Think about the absurdity of it. You're claiming Costco has no idea how much product they have or have sold? Multiple that by 30-40 thousand SKUs and imagine what would happen if that were even remotely true or possible. You are simply uninformed on the topic.
Who is the distributor by the way? I would assume it's Pacific Wine in Irwindale but seriously I don't know and don't really care. What I do know is there is only one Costco with Marani in stock and there are no reorders on record and haven't been for weeks other than one for the one store. Those are the facts.
And maybe Dan didn't do that much but what's been done in the four months since he's left? Who got Costco, Total Wine and whatever handful of retailers they did get with no advertising or marketing support? Trying to sell into retail without any support is not easy. Regardless, it's obvious even led has happened since he left and MRIB is actually losing business most likely at least partially from a lack of account management.
Costco orders through the distributor, yes. And there are no reorders in the Costco system and stock in only one store, Burbank. You can call any one of the 14 stores and they will tell you how many bottles are in stock and any orders in their system. Given that the last reorder in the system which just got filled this week was three weeks old and there's no other Marani in stock pretty much indicates that Marani has been pulled with no intention of reordering.
So I'm really pressed to see how this past quarter is going to be the best ever. Without Costco and what we know is almost zero sales at Total Wine domestic revenues will be abysmal. As far as Brazil, there is nothing yet and no revenues applicable. MRIB has never shipped any product so I don't know how any claims can be made regarding Brazil revenues impact when they don't exist. All of these lofty claims for MRIB yet not one iota of tangible support or proof. As a matter of fact, all tangible facts point to exactly the opposite results for MRIB and a disastrous quarter not to mention having lost most of their business and market for the next quarter and yet another quarter, ending in a couple of weeks now, without any shipments or foreign revenues even remotely possible.
These small time trades are a little puzzling. Why would anyone pay a 20% premium on a $200 trade? Certainly doesn't look like flipper activity. Looks a lot to me like someone is trying to support some PPS on the cheap for something bigger coming up. Building some room for a run down without totally tanking the PPS before final exit.
Otherwise, given the action on the stock price movements the past few months these trades are silly. There's no money in them. What are they going to make in the best case scenario, $20? Makes no sense. And if there was something "stewing" why only $200? To pay that much premium one would have to believe there's a much bigger percentage gain coming but if so why not buy more. $200 is chump change.
Gold, what is it that you believe could possibly triple the value of MRIB? You claim good product in stores but that's about it. Has Margrit said something? Also were you aware that as of a few days ago there was only one Costco left stocking and selling Marani with no reorders? What are your thoughts on that or what has Margrit said about losing 13 of the 14 Costco outlets? Considering Costco accounts for just about all of MRIB sales it seems to be a pretty significant setback. I don't know how long ago it all went down but is this the reason the financials have been withheld?
Brazil real or fake? Really? What could possibly support any existence of a $100 million deal in Brazil? At best there might be some mocked up contingency agreement allowing Margrit to cover her ass should it come to that. but track record gives us nothing to believe there is anything significant going on in Brazil or anywhere else in the world for that matter. Was India real? Monaco, Switzerland, France, Dubai, Asia, etc.? Probably a dozen foreign contracts touted and not a single shipment ever made by MRIB other than a few to the U.S. over what is now eight years and the oft promised riches of these foreign contracts. Heck, Margrit and MRIB have promised Brazil at least five times in the last year alone! The only reason Brazil has even a whisper of life is the fact that it can't be checked, confirmed or proven to exist. In other words, without proof it's fake, it must be real. Very convenient Margrit but for MRIB investors to believe it still after all that's happened and past history, well, believe what you want but seems pretty foolish to me to give Brazil any credibility.
They hired the IR firm months ago. Nothing's happened. There's nothing to PR either. No one believes the hype anymore. MRIB has lost all credibility. The only thing they can do is PR a done deal with a check in hand. Anything else is regarded as same old BS.
Yea right. Just like the last five times...
I'd have to agree. Every time Margrit opens her mouth it's either a lie, deceptive half truth or something so incredibly senseless it's embarrassing. "We finally got the financials done..." like it was some big achievement comes to mind.
She can't seem to speak intelligently or coherently about the company or the industry and can barely put together a sentence without flubbing it not to mention the unprofessionalism of PRs full of misspellings and grammatical errors.
Was MRIB a tremendous call if one was in on the fix? Sort of like saying a Vegas oddsmaker is a genius for picking underdogs in games he knows are fixed. Perhaps even directly involved. And the run up being the result of almost 100% false information and hype has to make one wonder.
Who'd want to bid on it? LOL!
And I wouldn't jinx yourself there Dawg. As I said, every time folks have said no dilution as predicted MRIB drops a bomb. It's like they're waiting for confidence to come back as blind as it may be in the fact that they've done it over and over and over for more than a year. I'd check with the transfer agent Tuesday morning for O/S. We know there are $476K in expenses that last reported quarter. Whether they required cash and were paid or not I don't know but there was no cash from anywhere else. And lord knows what they do with their books. The uncracked copy of QuickBooks for Dummies is probably acting as a coaster on Ani's coffee table at home.
I have to agree and it's curious. I would have expected a significant dump and it's been almost 30 days since the last one, albeit a larger than normal dump. But then again it seems like every time we go a while without a big sell and folks start saying dilution has stemmed, BOOM! It comes like a freight train.
A point could be made that dilution may be somewhat reduced too. What we don't know is what MRIB had in expenses over the past six months that were actually paid and covered by convertibles yet to mature. Perhaps Margrit stopped paying salaries and bills back in August. That timing would coincide with the exodus of employees September through end of year and maybe a reduction in convertibles done over that period to cover cash expenditures. Don't know. It could also be a little bit of fear in the holders of the debt given the fragile condition of the PPS although we haven't seen any new issues. Honestly I think I see the dump coming with these silly paint trades supporting an unrealistic PPS. But we will see.
BTW... Where are those fins? Obviously MRIB doesn't feel any sense of urgency to release them. As I said a few weeks ago I didn't think we'd see any significant dump after those came out and that's still sort of the situation. Perhaps an inside deal waiting to mature? Again, don't know but if we see a big dump I would expect the fins to follow shortly thereafter. And not knowing how long ago Costco took Marani off most of its shelves those financials could be pretty dicey.
Closing in on $10 in trades! LOL
I'm curious what folks think about what appears to be losing 13 of the 14 Costco stores? That's a pretty big deal, isn't it? And please don't tell me they're all sold out. The guy said they haven't had inventory for weeks and there were no reorders except for the one store and it was late and hadn't been filled yet. Can Margrit not get one single order out to her biggest and probably most important client? The level of incompetence is showing. But then again... I'm sure she's busy, right?
That's a curious point Carini. Zodiac is quite the mysterious piece of this MRIB puzzle and not only in the fact that Margrit was listed as a founder and President at one point. Regardelss, it's very odd that someone in that business would allow their website to go down for so long unless they were no longer in business. These days the website is lifeblood.
That said there was a rumor that arose out of a listing on Ripoff Report that Santiago Ramos or whatever his current alias or name is these days was being pursued by New York authorities for fraud and theft. Perhaps he's gone into hiding? Maybe he's yet another bad seed that did Margrit wrong. Who knows.
Well it appears Margrit and MRIB have allowed the California license to expire. Perhaps it's just an updating issue with California ABC but the license is currently expired.
Regardless, why do they need the license or the expense anyway? They're not selling any more vodka. I'm sure there's plenty of inventory on the shelves they still have to give the appearance that they're still in the vodka business. Although we do know there is now only on Costco store left with product. Like a carbon copy of 2010.
DMeeusen, understand I'd like to think for the benefit of MRIB shareholders that there might have been or is an alternative reason for all the convertible debt like an ad campaign or something supporting company operations. But in the course of my DD, over time and reviewing the documentation from MRIB 1.0 back in 2009 I simply couldn't find any expenses that jibed with the spending.
IIRC, back then they reported advertising expenses in excess of $1 million. On what? Dollars to donuts it was money that went to Zodizc Brands or some other cookie jar that Margrit had her fat hand in.
The reality of it all is that MRIB has blown through close to $33 million now and has not only little to show for it but very little if anything in justifiable expenses. Case in point is product purchases and inventory. Back in 2010 long after their licenses expired, sales and company dormant and plenty of inventory on hand MRIB ordered a huge shipment (4000 cases). She did it again a few months ago. Why would you buy product you don't need? Seems pretty fishy to me. The fact that it appears that the Wine Plant of Eraskh might not even exist makes it even more fishy.
Bottom line is there is a blueprint. You can almost tell what's going to happen, blow by blow, looking at the events of 2007-2010. Just read the SEC filings. Replace India with Brazil, a couple of employee names, and change the dates and voila! It's incredibly familiar and looks like an almost identical game plan which is being followed to the last detail. The only thing missing at this point is Margrit's resignation, fat severance package and subsequent re-hire in pursuit of MRIB 2.0.
The reason for the dilution is more than clear unless you have a theory other than they were simply raising money to pay themselves and pay for their perks and such. It's not too tough to go back over the year and calculate the conversion shares as they relate to reported expenses. If there was some evidence that MRIB was spending money on anything but themselves it might suggest something else but such evidence is non-existent. No advertising, marketing, promotion, etc.
Lots of folks here have tried Marani. It's like 80% of MRIB sales. LOL. It's ok. Great for Russians for some reason but offensive with vermouth Imo. Bottom line is it's very hard to differentiate vodka and once mixed even harder.
I shouldn't have said that... Going to take more than a couple of bottles of Marani to erase that image...
Yes. A liar with respect to all matters MRIB and a lier on the beaches of Rio and Miami.
How did I know the fact that Marani is no longer on Costco shelves would somehow be spun positively? Nice try but no. Looks like any product they had was returned with no intent to reorder. Regardless, I was told that they had only one order on record for all of Southern California which was for the Burbank store and as I said it is old and now over a week late. We know MRIB has plenty of inventory so there's obviously a serious account management problem since Dan Senters left. More incompetence by Margrit. How hard is it to manage orders for one store?
So as far as the list of "what ifs" I think it's safe to say that at least one can be crossed off the list. Furthermore, since Costco accounted for pretty much 100% of revenues in the last financials we can probably assume MRIB is pretty much down to what they had before Costco came along... $2,500 per quarter.
Just curious... Does it bother any of the longs that virtually EVERYTHING I've claimed or said over the last year or so has come true? And nothing the longs have claimed have?
See, the problem is that domestically Margrit, we can check this stuff out. Your Brazil crap is untraceable and we can't check you n that but you know that. But the lies on the domestic side are too easy to uncover. A flaw in the scam. The MRIB insiders here will try and tell us all otherwise but the fact is the product and the company are dead. Bet it all on the Brazil pipe dream with no supporting info. That's what she wants. A domestic announcement can be checked. She needs to create fantasy deals that can't be confirmed. Gotta' keep the wishful thinking going so she can sell stock.
Also looks like those next financials are going to be way worse than I thought. Didn't realize Costco cleared out and it looks like they did quite a while ago. No way they sold out so it looks like a discontinuation and return. MRIB probably stopped paying a slotting fee. No way Costco would even keep it otherwise. But for anyone who wants to check, inventory at Costco in SoCal is currently 4 bottles with 5 cases on order which are over a week late. No bottles on shelves at any other store than Burbank. On the shelves at ONE store. How's that for future sales?
So Gold Team, What's next? Looks like Costco is dead and on life support with MRIB purchasing their own product to keep the interest going and the Costco name attached as long as they can. Total Wine has sold something like seven bottles in four months across 12 stores. Pretty lame. Doubt they'll be there much longer. It's down to Little Armenia's Remedy Liquors which is also steeply discounted. Probably for a friend. What I want to see is how MRIB will account in the financials for the Costco returns from all the stores except Burbank. Should be interesting.
Funny too that the only Costco that reordered is .88 miles from Glendale, CA. Little Armenia. I'd bet MRIB is buying their own product at this point just to keep Costco active even if it's only one store. And I misstated the order. It was actually five cases but as I said it's five days late and they still have stock which he said was last reordered in August. He went through the other inventory in SoCal and inventory is zero with no orders pending.
Here's a little news...
Talked to Costco today. As of today there are four bottles of Marani in all of the Southern California stores and all at the Burbank store and it's also the only store with any type of reorder in place. 3 cases according to the rep. All other stores have cleared Marani off the shelves showing zero inventory and have not reordered. Actually the Burbank order is five days late too according to the rep. Looks like Costco is a bust. Back to twelve retail vendors.
And it really does appear at this point that all eggs are going into the Brazil basket. Given the track history that's not a very good gamble. Five times MRIB has cried wolf on Brazil in over a year and a half and nothing has ever happened. Why it's all of the sudden a different "done" deal has never been explained but there's now so little credibility in the Brazil deal claims it's hard to consider it realistic. Fool me five times? Who's the shame on?
If there is no need for a reverse split how do you suggest MRIB deal with their current SS problem? Even if they got something in Brazil it's at least six months off. You're either not doing your math or ignoring the problem. There are over a billion new shares fully diluted coming in that time based on already public financials. You keep saying no reverse split but offer no alternative as to how MRIB deals with the problem of being maxed out and how to keep the doors open for another six months. Give us some substance.
No one is arguing the fact that MRIB has not announced a reverse split. The problem is that the lack of an announcement does not address the point of the discussion which is what is MRIB going to do about their stock structure problem? I keep hearing no reverse split... no announcement. That doesn't mean it's not being considered or planned based on the situation. What I have not heard from those yelling no announcement, no reverse split is what alternatives MRIB has to address the problem. How about giving us some alternative options or strategies MRIB has to stay alive? Saying the problem doesn't exist because there's been no announcement is like saying one is not pregnant until the baby pops out.
Spec, there are six months of back expenses and debt that have been paid for and the only source of revenue for that period was convertible debt. We know that for a fact because those numbers have already been reported by MRIB. They're on the books and in past financials. Again, just factual information. The stock problem is real. You keep saying no announcement of reverse split. That's fine. I agree. But please do tell us how MRIB is going to deal with the problem of being maxed out fully diluted by those expenditures already on the books?
The problem is that anything and everything remotely positive with MRIB is a "what if?". Unfortunately they never materialize and end up amounting to wishful thinking and non-events. Conversely, all of the factual and real information is significantly negative and represents not a "what if?" but a "what is."
What if Margrit won the Powerball and could put some money of her own into the company (doubt she would), but what if? What if, Costco decided to expand based on abysmal sales with no advertising or marketing support? What if MRIB got a NY distributor with no retail clients and again, no advertising and marketing support? What if MRIB got a distributor in Florida with no retail presence? What if MRIB were able to somehow magically grow sales in California making no changes to the existing retail base or current marketing plan/approach?
Pretty weak. There's so little support of the "what ifs?" Just pipe dreams from longs desperately under water on a worthless stock and company grasping at straws and "what ifs?" hoping for a miracle. Bottom line is you don't mortgage your house to buy lottery tickets which match the odds and outlook currently faced by MRIB investors. No employees. No sales force. No cash. No advertising, marketing or branding, only a handful of regional SoCal retailers with little to no sales to speak of. Not looking good other than a bunch of billion to one "what ifs" that have already come and gone without materializing. Hoping for them to happen a second, third, fourth time? Just naive and unrealistic.
Although the misspellings and grammatical errors in press releases and reports may seem trivial they are indicative of deeper issues. Lack of professionalism and attention to detail aside, the indicate numerous problem(s). One is that the CEO surrounds herself with incompetent help. Two is that she just doesn't care. Perhaps a combination of both. There is no CEO "too busy" to put forth an image of professionalism and MRIB and Margrit seem to lack this effort on a consistent basis.
And on that topic, what's she so busy doing that she would risk the company's and her reputation, credibility and image versus doing a quick proofread? She's certainly not selling vodka. She's not preparing financials. The new CPA should be able to do those himself in a matter of an hour or two although as I've said before the strategy on how to perhaps cook those books might be complex and time consuming. I just don't understand what she does all day. She has no training, formal experience or track record of success in the spirits space nor any other aspect of business or the role of CEO. She's a residential real estate broker with what is likely a high school education at best. And now she's carrying the day-to-day responsibilities of an international consumer products company under public trust? Something doesn't add up.
Yea, none of this is accurate regarding a reverse split as it applies to MRIB.
Trading stocks we all see this reverse split thing spoke about.... MRIB has not came out saying a reverse split nor can anyone say they will do a reverse split.. Now that that's out of the way, IF a split is done in any stock traders always assume the worst.. I personally think a split in MRIBs shares would be beneficial for the pps, lower the OS in MRIB is a good thing, less shares to be traded meaning chasers will be running further for shares.. Now if MRIB needs some funds to run the company before Brazil revenues come in, shares diluted would be minimum because the price per share will be higher after the split.. Remember, market cap of a company does not change after a reverse split, it just means your shares are worth more and there are less to go around...
Future, future, future! that's all we ever hear! What positives are there for the future? It's all talk. NO revenues, NO Brazil, NO cash, NO adverising, NO marketing...NO company. Where is my $10K on the 2014 Brazil shipment Gold? Or are you welching? I gave it seven months. How much time does MRIB need? You keep telling us good things are coming, directly from Margrit. We've heard that for five or six months now and nothing. Your credibility is running thin.