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.
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.
Not if they don't know about it or just realize it's not worth the lawyer fees to do anything. Regardless. They're not clients. I guarantee it. If they are it's seven layers of separation at best. I'm sure Kevin Bacon is one of their clients. LOL. And let me ask you a very straightforward question... If those folks were all clients, why in God's name would they not be listed in their body of work? DD is about asking those type of questions not looking at a website with easily downloaded graphics and assuming it to be fact. It's done all the time. Some get a cease and desist, some don't. It's probably not hurting anyone but if they start getting associated with an STM of any significance they'll shut it down in a New York minute. Especially the news channels. They don't want to be associated with it as it decreases their credibility significantly.
I'm just wondering what you base that opinion on. Strong stock? In what way and what is it that would indicate such? Operating at a huge loss, no sales to speak of, no branding or marketing to speak of given they want to be a national brand. No advertising other than some infomercials that do little to nothing in branding the product. I fail to see where you draw your conclusion. The balance sheet shows $30M in losses since inception. there's over $2M in debt including a minimum of 10% of that in payroll taxes and probably great deal more. They've brought in $200,000 in inventory for the entire year so far and that's at gross margin. They burn close to if not more than $100,000 a month. Where is the "strength"? The fundamentals would point to exactly the opposite, extremely weak, vulnerable and most likely insolvent and selling stock to survive. What about past history. This so closely resembles 2009 and everyone seems to ignore it. And that's what a lot of people here would like to know in reference to Marani. Why won't they tell us what they've sold? What are they afraid of?
Not disagreeing with you. Often a startup will not have an official address or office at the time of registration and uses the agent's address. Point is that this company did not exist in California prior to this past fall and simply found a location after registration by the agent. It will be updated later. If the owner told me that he'd been in business since 2006 my DD checklist would certainly include "under what name?" because there is no Broadcast West prior to October of 2013 in California. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they were in another state or something but did you not ask the question or did you not check and then just took his word for it? A lot of people are reading this information as huge positive news and trusting your DD but if it's strictly fluff and made up it's somewhat misleading to be handing it off to us as detailed or diligent DD.
Yes. The way this news is being interpreted is alarming to me. If all DD is thrown to the wind embellishing a non-event, and people are naïve enough to simply take one's word for fact without any type of confirmation or DD, people are gong to lose money big time.
Luckily as you've noted it doesn't look like the bulk of investors are buying into it either and are staying away from the "news" as anything other than what it is... same old game of trying to prop up the PPS with vapor PR and NOT something solid like SALES. They know what their sales were last month with Costco, how about announcing them? I'll tell you why. They probably sucked and more stock must be sold before any financials are released because when PPS drops to fractions of a penny the money printing press gets shut off along with those $300,000 in minimum salaries (more than twice the value in gross margin of that single container shipped in 2014).
Personally I don't think you will ever see another financial release from them. If so it will most likely be forced somehow and it will be horrific. Following the gameplan from 2009-2010 tanking and shutdown it seems to be identical today and you have the same CFO, CEO, COO and accountant as back then. Only thing that's changed is the addition of Dan Senters. Seems like a good man and part of why I got in but is he worth what will have to be over $100 million in sales to support even a fraction of current PPS? I'd say good luck but I don't think he'd be there if such was true. I'll hang on to these last few shares just for shi*s and giggles but without financials and a really questionable news release I have to really question the intention of the company and management just in the fact that so many could potentially see right through it and say "I don't want to hear about another infomercial I want to know how much product has been sold!"
Actually, they were in Montebello and they registered with the state of California this past fall. Maybe just a coincidence but about the same time Marani stated their PR stuff.
But I do have to say, many believe everything people say even if the corresponding DD doesn't match up. If someone says the moon is made of cheese some people are breaking out the crackers. I don't see this announcement nor the potential of another infomercial or STM changing anything. It won't be a national advertisement. It won't be seen on prime time TV. It will be part of paid programming on remnant space like CNBC or Oxygen at 3AM at best. The problem is it will be money spent that entirely misses the mainstream audience for consumer products. It targets the unemployed and buyers of Wonder Mops. Not money well spent if the intention is to brand the product as a mainstream national spirit. And, that's my huge contention with the intention of the company for taking this route and it tells me it is nothing more than another Money TV type of deal perhaps without the stink associated with Money TV as a pure stock promotion.
Well, it's true. Look for yourself. And yes if you weren't aware, Billy Mays passed away 5 years ago last week, 4 and a half years before Broadcast West was established. How would you explain them listing Mays as a client? Come to think about it, if they can bring Billy back from the dead perhaps they are exactly what Marani needs right now... LOL.
The point is that no one should expect to see a Marani ad on national television. Just another SMT which is what Broadcast West does and is clearly set forth on their web site albeit in a very shady sort of manner. Just look at all the "client" logos displayed and find even one match in their "work" section. And I know that the Wolfgang Puck photo is from many years ago long before Broadcast West came into existence.
Lastly and possibly more importantly, how can I as a moderately interested shareholder with very little skin left in the game notice all of these warning signs and Marani management didn't? Or did they?
Hard to believe people are falling for this news in such a euphoric way. Just more "Marani speak" and misdirection. Announcing the intention to make a commercial is nonsense. Announcing the hiring of a national ad agency and a national media schedule would be what is needed for any consumer product. This is not. The purpose and intention is no different than Money TV and I'm sure it will be just another infomercial for stock promotion. We'll see. But Broadcast West should raise suspicions anyway. Anyone do any DD on them?
First, they only came into existence six months ago. They look to be a producer of infomercials and other paid programming destined for late night television using cheap remnant space. Second, in their client section they display the logos of many big players such Disney, Warner Brothers, all the major networks, consumer products like Coke and Gatorade, etc., yet not one of them is listed or shown in their body of work section. Third, in their body of work section they show a number of productions that are clearly not of their creation nor on their premises. The one blatant example of how fraudulent it is, is that they list Billy Mays in their body of work... a mere 5 years after his death.
Bottom line is 90% of their "work" are SMTs which is just another form of infomercial. I guarantee they've never done a national consumer brand advertisement. The other 10% is infomercials and set rentals. I would bet that if any of those national brands and clients listed would be mighty upset at them being used to sell SMTs and infomercials in the way they're doing.
That said, I do appreciate the exaggerated response to this less than impressive news when more closely examined and those buying on this more than questionable PR that has allowed me to almost entirely escape from my position with less loss than expected and before the music stops sans chair.
They've been pulled.
The first trade you'll see Monday morning is 500,000 shares at whatever I can get. This company is a total scam. If you believe in it buy my stock. I've already realized I'll be writing it off and it pisses me off because I think my ask will go begging at almost nothing when it crashes on Monday.
Sub penny by next week unless the promoters can keep it up and suck more investors in. That's what happened in 2009. This is an insolvent company with no future. They have little to no sales and huge expenses. Margrit and family have been sucking money out of this for years and year. They keep doing the same thing. There are no Brazil, Costa Rica or Mexico sales just like there were no Dubai or India sales in 2009. It's all a ruse. These people should be in jail. I find it even more offensive that they list on this site that they sell in Von's, Ralph's, et. al. It's a joke. A totally lie. They've been pulled from Costco and just a matter of time before they go dark again.
The SEC needs to look at this because something is very very wrong. They got there late reporting mark dropped yet they still have not reported since 2010, they fail to tell the public they've burned $30 million with no profit and there has been not one 4K filed and I find it hard to believe given the volume that not one insider has sold stock.
As they have refused to report officially they have hidden the fact that they have issued and/or registered over 120 million shares that normal DD would not have uncovered until just recently. Their current 510,000,000 shares makes this company pretty much worthless. They've been printing money without telling shareholders. They told us there were 175,000,000 shares outstanding. They came back with their bogus interim report stating 479,00,000 not to mention they forgot to forget the $29 million in previous loss. Furthermore Margit and other family got preferred deals which we don't even know the terms of. I really don't believe any of this is legal.
They were a spirits company five years ago. There is absolutely nothing different from what I see now and 2009. Foreign contracts that cannot be confirmed, domestic tests that don't work, huge dilution, management getting huge amounts of stock, lots of talk, lots of double talk and all the time hiding from the public as much as they can the $30 million this same management team has burned through. You tell me what's different. They're running the same play out of the same playbook and now I know so. If you want to fund it go right ahead but it's identical to what they did five years ago. I doubt much of what they are doing is even legal. I'll take suck up my small loss or break even on Monday but you guys really need to look at this more closely. Just friendly advice.
Decided I would get out Monday. Did a lot of DD over the weekend. Have any of you EVER looked at this board from back in 2009? Or do you just trust every thing the company says and promotes?
Take a look. It's very interesting. I never did before but my eyes are wide open now. Let's look at what was going on in 2009...
Huge contracts in Dubai and India. Expansion into cognac and Thai beer. Cigars as well. Tests with Von's and Ralphs. A scattering of small distributors selling a case or two here or there. Any of this sound familiar?
They're running the exact same game plan they ran in 2009 and we're all going to be broken by it. There is absolutely nothing different. I also know why they won't publish financials. They didn't go BK so their consolidated audited financials must include their $29 million loss. They don't want to show that. I now know this is a scam. They went dark for four years let the dust settle and hoped no one would sue. No one did so they did it all over again. How the got the mark for non-reporting removed from their symbol is a big question too. I think the transfer agent may be liable there. But they were in violation in 2010 and they still are but they aren't being marked as such. Not sure how that can be done. There are so many shady issues here... This is a total scam. Didn't think so until today but now I know. Go look at 2009 posts. Exact same promotion and deal. They did it to us twice. Magrit is a total criminal. Hopefully she doesn't get away with it a second time. But mark my words, this company has no value whatsoever. It was created, extended and promoted only to suck money out of the public market with false promises.
That's great because I'm looking to sell out what I have left on Monday. Nice to know someone will buy it despite the terrible financials. Not sure what you see but it's yours at $.016.
Actually the Grey Goose sale was ten years ago. But let's look at that. They were selling 125,000 cases per month when the sale took place. Marani has admittedly (allegedly) sold only 1600+ cases in the last year or so, 133 cases a month or about .001 of the Grey Goose levels. $2 billion x .001 = $2,000,000 valuation in juxtaposition. Share price would be $.004. This is before addressing the $2M in current debt and mounting monthly losses from expenses in excess of sales. Sorry, the math is not fuzzy, it's exact. You can't just say we can get a Grey Goose kind of deal. You have to do what they did and Marani is not even close. Different leagues.
That said, I'm going to say something I've been thinking about. I think this would be a neat little boutique brand and company if it were run correctly and was not public. I would love to see the difference if it were private with principals not paying themselves big salaries and growing it organically without the public company play. I actually think it would be successful. But that's not the case. If anything, Margit and family are the biggest toxic financiers of all. I tried to find out if she's ever put money in but found no evidence of such. Sure she gave up a big portion of accrued salary but hey, she got 35 million shares not mention preferred which we don't even know the terms of.
What's nonsense? Where's the "fuzzy" math? The CEO of the company said they got 1600 cases. This was confirmed through INTL BOLs. Whether they're paid for or not doesn't even matter but if sold through they have zero inventory and one container sold in nine months. They've said nothing of any other new shipments. That means they have a maximum of roughly $217,000 in gross margin sales for the year plus the $2500 already recorded over the past nine months for old inventory. Nothing fuzzy there. Pretty straightforward math.
Given the burn rate of $100,000 a month before even addressing the $2M in arrears including a quarter of a million in unpaid payroll taxes, penalties and interest unknown, they stand at an operating loss of at least $700,000 for the last nine months which seems to be in line with what they've already published albeit unaudited. I actually think it's a lot bigger loss but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being. But their stated cash position at the end of Q1 2014 was $0. That's simply a fact. Please refer to the balance sheet published. I'll even give them credit for the receivables and subscription agreement (whatever that was) as cash and they're still under water in a big way using simple math and facts not speculation of what people would like to think has been shipped or sold.
I would be more than happy to correct the calculations if you can indicate where you think they are mistaken. I certainly don't want to mislead but I don'[t think I have. If anything I think I've been more than generous in the company's favor. I'm just going on what the company tells us and publishes.
Actually it's usually 6-9 bottles per case. Probably 9 1L bottles. Regardless if it is 12 per case they're all .75L bottles so you have to adjust the gross margin per bottle. I've done the math a couple times and it's not far off from one to the other. Some additional margin on the smaller bottles but also some additional costs. Pretty even gross margin in the end of the day. But it's certainly not 20,000 1L bottles at the given margin.
Linkvest, that may be true but only as it applies to established efforts and brands with known and predictable sales and run rates that can have contingencies built in without hamstringing the company financially or logistically. We're dealing with a significantly different animal here with a startup in the space. The Point K is making is valid and I don't think it's an attempt to discredit the company but just to inform that the situation exists. Supply chain factors, metrics and analytics therein are important but at the point Marani are they are even more important as the rubber is running dangerously close to the road and it could be potentially devastating if not addressed with great detail, care and expertise and I'm not sure if they have anyone capable of that task. Missing a shipment date or having too much inventory when you're already running at a significant loss can land a startup in deep doo doo. Just as an example, I don't buy this 1600 cases already sold deal. It makes no sense logistically. That would mean their inventory stands at zero. Might be good for the books but distributors are not going to be happy with a back order, empty shelves or waiting for a container that could take more than a month to arrive. There should be at least one non-spoken for container in inventory as a contingency but Margit has made it clear that's not the case. If they somehow miraculously got a big order they couldn't fill it for 30-45 days. Plus if a distributor gets a sniff that you're running a just in time inventory deal they're going to be hesitant to commit to anything of substance.
No. You're correct. They wouldn't send over land that far. It is a heck of a trip though and Portugal would be a logical port of call. But as I recall Armenia is totally land locked. Probably shipped over land to Turkey somewhere on the Aegan and then across the Med to Gilbralter and logically, Portugal. Then across the pond through Panama to Los Angeles.
What's wrong about it? And, what proof do you have that there are more on the way?
I don't think that's where the contention is rt. The problem with Money TV is it is simply promoting the sale of stock not the vodka. How much is an ad in Wine & Food or some associated trade journal? Wouldn't that be much more targeted? What's the intention of using Money TV versus industry trades?
With an obvious goal to sell stock not vodka the intention is questioned. Furthermore, I don't think it informs MRIB investors or keeps them apprised. It is scripted and from what I've seen does the exact opposite. It keeps investors in the dark entirely with half truths and fell good stories feeling good based on channeled controlled information. It is entirely non-objective. Did they ever say, "we only made $2500 in the last nine months"? Did they ever state their sales levels? Did they ever talk about their burn rate? Nope. Just warm and fuzzies. To me that's not advertising, it's deceptive promotion in hope of stock sales for zero cost basis investors. Any real investor would want a business plan that addressed selling the product. The only thing we've seen are these infomercials, product shots from five years ago and some cheap glam sponsorships.
And I'll tell you one thing. Margit said they were cash flow positive and profitable. I'm going to hold her to that. I've done the math and it's not possible from what they've released so she must have a whole bunch of rabbits and hats. They will remain in debt over $2M and will have added at least $300K to the expenses. And here's the bet, Marani sales will be less than $120,000 with a loss of greater than $300,000 for the quarter ending June 2014. Mark my words. I'm going to take the $.016 or whatever I can get Monday for what I have left and get out of Dodge. This is a total replay of 2009. Marani in one form or another has failed with the same management since inception. No one has offered any reason this time is different. And if you think Dan Senters is the messiah, think again. He might seem good but there's a reason a 45 year old guy is working at a resurrected bankrupt company with no cash on the balance sheet, no marketing budget to speak of, working for Margit! and not the CEO or at least a high ranking executive at Diageo or LVMH. There's not a lot of background on any of these people which is another nagging issue. Just can't see it.
That's simply not true. Many here are posting forecasts of sales based on as much as 20,000 cases a month. It takes at least two containers a month just to break even if not more. The math is seriously a serious obstacle with this company. The only way it seems you can make it work is to forecast unrealistic sales which many have done and remain euphoric in believing it's possible when it clearly isn't. Let's face it, After all the distributors and sales outlets they claimed to have BEFORE Costco sales were $2,500 after three months with a burn rate of $100K a month. Not a ducky outlook. If you think they can double sales and do another container in the next six months that might be realistic but your share price is going to be .0002. I've done the math. Add another .0002 for every additional container assuming they do not increase expenses or burn rate which is not really possible. Basically you need another 10-15 containers just to meet the monthly nut.
Other than the fact that if there was another container on the way the company would be shouting out on Money TV?
Actually I think it was Belgian who posted the site and it tracks and logs international shipments and there is just the one for Marani... And by the way it lists 1383 odd cases not 1600. Not to make a big deal out of it but that's a $20,000 difference.
Just another one of the nagging little issues with respect to Margit. She's vague on issues, often mistaken, totally cagey about financials... Just doesn't come across as a CEO. Dan is a far better presence. Margit reminds me of a sort of shady slumlord/real estate agent who'll say or do anything to make a buck. She's just not professional. Have you ever hear her once talk about supply chain, production, financials, distribution, etc. in any detail whatsoever? I bet she doesn't even know what EBITDA stands for. Just vague superfluous references that can't be checked or at least checked in detail. I don't think she knows a thing about business and that's why the company failed in 2010, three times before that and more than likely will again with her at the helm. It actually appears to me in some of the Money TV deals that Dan is sort of trying to save her from saying dumb stuff.
Not even close to a million. More like $300,000 if they've sold out which I strongly doubt. And this is the crux of the problem. I continually see a theme of guidance that treats the PPS as if it were a probability equation. It's not a matter of waiting for an entry point in terms of time but in terms of fundamentals and underlying valuation. The company has not shown anything that values the company at anything more than sub penny and buyers are now realizing that and no longer buying the tall tales and Money TV promotions. It's come to the point where they've said show us. Until then I don't think you'll see anything but decline and with each day another $3,000 gets burned. When they do come out with numbers, if they do, I think it's going to be ugly. Remember, all they've told us is they had $2500 in sales in huge last nine months to April and one container worth $200,000 gross that arrived a couple of weeks ago with no others on the way. How can the company be objectively valued at anything other than a reasonable multiplier of earnings? They stand to make $60,000 or so on a net basis at best which would be a book value of $.0001 per share. A multiplier of 170X would have to be considered to arrive at current value. This is what traders and buyers are looking at. For a while it's a game and a gamble where there's money to be made on the "play" with nothing to do with fundamentals. Now the shine is off and all the Money TV spots in the world aren't going to do anything, only profits will.
I think that price is optimistic at best. I think we're looking at sub .005 very soon. It looks like Costco didn't work out and the foreign contracts are vapor. Just a matter of time now. It's no mystery why Costco didn't work. There's no branding and no advertising to support any mass retail effort. Unfortunate for Dan Senters who might have been the right guy but too little support. His resume is probably already out. There's 1600 cases in my opinion coming back or in inventory and no revenue. Stock price at 100X is less than a penny based on sales. They owe more than they've sold by a multiple of ten. It's just a matter of the zero cost owners getting cash from you. I think that was the original intention. No different than 2009. What you need to do is file a claim so Margrit and family can't do this again. She paid herself from that $1.021 million on the books at the end of 2009 for four years. It's pretty obvious. No cash at the end of 2013. Must be nice Margrit. $50,000 collection agent gets millions through a fake company and a bunch of infomercials telling people you were for real. Shame on you.
I received a tip from a buddy in Burbank that Marani has been removed from the shelves of Costco based on a visit to a store there. Is there anyone down that way that can confirm? I seriously doubt this because tests are usually thirty days and it hasn't been that long. He went to the store and there was no Marani on the shelves. Maybe they sold out? The problem I would have with that is they didn't restock. Costco doesn't leave shelves empty. He said some unknown whiskey had taken the space. I asked him to send me some pictures. Still waiting.
Sierra World Equity Review? Really? They're more interested in selling matrasses and gel foam shoe inserts than posting credible investment content. It's just hokum. Please understand that this site has no interest in MRIB but is looking to sap traffic in the form of those interested In MRIB to sell advertising space. They even claim in their disclaimer that their content may be "fictional". There is absolutely no confirmed or even remotely confirmable news of any buyout of MRIB. They simply made it up. As to the possibility of a buyout, why? The brand is not worth anything. Any buyout would have to be far too great to be worth anything to anybody to have a boutique brand with no advertising, credible marketing or significant sales effort. They'd be better off going to the distillery in Armenia and cutting a deal. Why would anyone want $2M in debt and the headache of buying up 510,000,000 shares of stock. It's no deal anyone wants.
At this point I can't see any dilution as positive. Keep in mind that it's a game of diminishing reruns as both financing power and share value fall. That's why they call it toxic. The value of exposure in having more shareholders is insignificant and to scale has no value. And give thought to this. At current levels for every 1% of dilution the company must increase sales by close to half a million dollars just to preserve adjusted book value. Given current sales and even forecasted sales, that's a huge percentage increase and at least equal to 100% of the prior 12 months in sales.
No, but they might look at it and say same management, same business, same financial shape, different day. They may also take a gander at the old financial and say "what happened to the positive $5 mil on the balance sheet in Q4 2009?". All in all, I thnk an acute and savvy trader would sense something isn't quite right here. And to look at some of the incredibly euphoric sales expectations virtually anyone would scoff.
Those numbers posted about forecasted revenue are more than far fetched. 20,000 cases a month? It took them over a year to get a single container here. But just for giggles let's use His math. 20,000 cases for a gross margin sales number of $2 million. Assuming a profit margin of 30% nets out 600,000 a month or an annualized run rate of $7.2 million. Before paying off any of the existing debt and liabilities based on shares outstanding you get a book value of $.014. That said I should note that at those sales levels Marani would fall just shy of Sobieski and just and of Ciroc brands. Does anyone really thnk this is even remotely possible? It's a pipe dream. You can plug in any sales numbers you want but unrealistic numbers don't tell the story. The only way to forecast is to take current sales and a reasonable growth rate based on historical levels or even in this case for lack of historical data short term results and pro forma forecasts.
Basically this company must sell no less than ten times current annual sales PER MONTH in order to justify a PPS of $.02 at a 15X multiplier. Just the facts. As for the pie in the sky forecasts it might be fun to think it could happen but it can't and won't. Another way to look at it is that for every million in earnings, earnings mind you, it's only one fifth of a cent in book. The more and more I look at the financial logistics I find it harder and harder to see any business plan that makes this work without use of wildly unrealistic sales goals.
Great post. And I agree that the cavalier attitude on this issue is ignorant. It's a very serious issue and the amount due is equal to as much as six months of revenue. Personally I think it's more than they're saying. The taxman does not allow $250,000 in payroll taxes due to sit on the books without penalties and interest. And the taxman is also not subject to usury laws. It's been at least five years and I would bet the interest and penalties could be as much as a million.
It's almost a moot point though. We should have Costco sell through numbers by next week. I doubt they will be on he shelves in August and the fact they have not announced a reorder pretty much confirms that. Had they been successful Margit would be all over Money TV with announcement of a reorder. I also think transparency and disclosure issue are going to catch up with the company very soon.
They're not related. ABC and the tax office don't intertwine. You can be a felon with tax issue and still get a liquor import and distribution license. Actually, it bothers me they make so much of these licenses. They're easy to get. Most states allow an online application. Serving licenses are the tough ones. Wholesale and import are nothing. Look it up. California takes about 30 days and the guidelines are very easy. But, you want to serve liquor or spirits in a retail location, tougher deal.
Exactly. Look at your own math. I think your labor cost is high in your favor but $60,000 a quarter is $20,000 a month which is way more than they're bringing in on an annualized basis. And I think the increase from last "statement" is an indication that they're just not paying it. It's going to catch up with them.
I have another problem with this... All of the stock Margrit and other employees got in lieu of back pay (she's never put a nickel in cash into the company from what I can find BTW) if it were valued currently would dramatically change those taxes due and I don't think they've done that adjustment. I'd say their liability is probably triple what is claimed without interest and penalties. The problem is they don't have an accountant. They don't have audited financials, they're just shooting from the hip with your money. I'm pretty convinced the insiders have found a way to sell zero cost basis stock, probably illegal, and from the looks of the trading the market is drying up for those big sells to fund operations. And when I say operations, I'm not talking about efforts to build your share value, I'm talking about paying executives, staff, car leases, etc. They're holding out for a higher price but it's first of the month. I see a big sell below .015 coming soon. They need money. Let's see how much patience they have that they can promote it back up to .02. Don't think it will happen but time will tell.
Payroll taxes are a non-issue? You have obviously never operated a company and dealt with this issue, let alone a California company. FTB is brutal. The taxes are brutal. 941 prosecution is brutal. The rules they go by are generally unregulated and they do pretty much anything they want. There are no appeals and there are no settlements without bankruptcy. You are seriously underestimating this liability. Hey, if it was income taxes, no biggie. Those are easy to put off and hide from for a while and then settle at a steep discount with a decent tax attorney.
But these mandatory payments which they have a fiduciary responsibility to collect and hand over to the state total over 10% of their entire payables/liabilities. And if what you said is true and that they have a small payroll, that number is huge and must have been on the books for a long time (at least since 2009). I have serious doubts that they are including penalties and interest in their liability. That's why you need audited financials. The company can leave those penalties and interest out on the basis that they believe they do not owe the taxes but a CPA or certified firm would not.
Veronica, I have to correct you. I certainly am suggesting that the Fed or more realistically, the state, would shut them down or at least hamstring them. $250,000 is a serious amount for the FTB. California is doing whatever they can to collect money and they've become incredibly aggressive especially on payroll taxes. The 2008 economic crash put a lot of sole proprietors in bad shape and they held off paying 941s and FTB. They've been dropping off like flies unable to meet the tax commitments for the past 6 years. I personally had half a million in receivables disappear due to companies going belly up on this issue, mostly small companies. 30 days went to 90 days went to "sorry, we can't pay you." Marani looks a lot like those companies. $2M in debt, $300,000 in gross sales, $100,000 a month in expenses. Just look at the numbers and ignore the infomercials and company double speak.
Bottom line is the services have no patience for net loss companies not even paying normal state income taxes and withholding payroll taxes that they see as belonging to them outright. Their position is those operators are financing their companies with state money. The state is going broke as fast as Marani. It's a serious issue and don't be surprised to see this become a major issue.
Who cares? Well, all of those elements have significant impact on value. What you should be applying the who cares question to is who cares if they sell a full container of cases for $217,000 and have expenses of $600,000? Who cares if they have a $400,000 loss so far for the year and $2 million in liabilities and zero inventory on hand and no cash? You should care about this as a shareholder, as part of a group of shareholders that has put 100% trust in executive management telling you, not showing you, excellent cash flow and profitability. The fact would not appear to support those statements. We've all looked at the fundamentals and basically the formulae show that Marani needs to sell at least two containers a month to stay afloat, probably more. Having shipped and sold only one container in six months and getting a windfall on half a container they basically got for free on the losing backs of 2009 investors I'd say all of the questions on financing operations you pose are pretty damned important. Just answer me this question... If they shipped one container with a gross sales value of $217,000 in six months and they're burning $100,000 a month in expenses, how can they survive or should I ask how are they surviving? There's no profit, $2M in payables, tax burden and the need to reorder from the distillery. Something is simply not right with this picture. The cash flow that management is vapor and the facts do not support any possibility of its validity. Am I calling her a liar? No, but I'm getting close because she's so cagey with all of her responses and she never throws out any real numbers like real public company executives do. She's pur everybody in a position for looking for guidance saying things are "good". Money is "good". Orders are "good". Inventory is "good". What's good? Publish some real audited numbers Marani and stop double talking.
Excuse my ignorance. The A/S? Are you referring to treasury stock?
They've had the chances to file reports and audited statements but they have failed to do so, even now. They've had more than a year of operations (18 months) to file something and we still have nothing but their last report from 2010 Q1. I just find that somewhat disingenuous if not dishonest and/or with the intention of concealing material fact and information regarding the company, its finances and issues.
The tax thing is a good example. There should be a note, even in this interim report, as to the background of that issue. It's more than 10% of their current payables/liabilities.
DD is only s good as the data and factual information you can get and trust. This is a public company being run like a sole proprietorship and the shareholders very little other than these unaudited reports filled with mysterious unexplained items along with comments from management that are quite hard to believe given the facts. Don't you believe they should be more forthcoming and why do you think they're not? You want to be a public company and take money from John Q Public, open the books and act like a public company where the public owns it, not the Eyraud family and friends.
And I'll remind you of one other thing and that is their last audited official statement back at the end of 2009. I've brought this up before and no one had an answer. What happened to the $5,000,000 that was on the balance sheet? Am I saying the company is doing something illegal? No. I'm just saying there are some pretty questionable items on the books from the past and just as many at present and the same people are involved. I think it requires an extra step in DD to uncover if they've made mistakes or if there is something going on that shouldn't be. As long as they don't officially release and file, no one can say and THEY know that and that's the real crux of the issue here and why I question, as would any astute investor, their intentions.
That would be wonderful if the company actual did reporting. Unaudited vague financials and a bunch of notes from management do not constitute credible reporting. They still have not filed legitimate financial nor complied with SEC rules for doing so unless... Their sales are much lower than they're portraying and they are still exempt. Otherwise they are in violation.