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Great! news...I was kind of expecting it actually.
The thing is that absolutesky seems to have a great product, but an absolute dumb ass/shady management. What a sad combination.
A little bit of history: John Frabasile - AbsoluteSKY
Well, I decided to do some googling tonight and see if I can trace some history of John Frabasile and AbsoulteSKY. Man, I was in for a surprise.
Googling John Frabasile name and getting the oldest occurrence (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tandem+and+Mitech+to+Partner+in+a+Specialty+Retailing+and+General...-a017441927 ) for it, I found out that he was the CEO of a Montreal based company called Mitech Computer Solutions. I found 2 press releases, one from 1995 and another from 1999.
Curiously enough I wasn't able to find much more references on Mitech to see how the company worked, and if it was profitable and by how much, and if it is still operational.
So by luck really, I stumble on this website. https://ssl.req.gouv.qc.ca/slc0110_eng.html . It is the canadian (quebecer) website for companies that are registered in quebec, and a bit of history on them! It was a god send!
So I punch in "Mitech" and started going through each and every one of them, until I came across #1142890582. The lucky number. Here is the ref: https://ssl.req.gouv.qc.ca/igif-bin/isl08tr1/cidreq/**URL**?matricule=1142890582&banque=C&action=ETAT_CIDREQ§ion1=O§ion2=O§ion3=O§ion4=O
So I scroll down that french document, not really understanding much, but some souvenirs from my french classes started to surface.
According to this document. Mitech was a company of between 50 and 99 employees. Started in 1983, and "ended" in 2000. FRABASILE, JOHN was the majority shareholder, the president and the administrator. It was in 1998 apparently that things started going wrong.
If you read at the bottom of the document, it says that a notice of defaulting was issued. I am guessing that they defaulted on paying something serious, maybe like the income taxes collected from employees. They defaulted again in 1999, and it seems that it got so serious, that they were radiated from the "office"!!! They did not dissolve it, the company got radiated!
So that's the end of Mitech, let's continue John's "un-authorized and unwanted biography".
John resurfaces 2 years later in 2002, to be appointed President of a company called "island pacific". Here is the blurb from google finance:
"Island Pacific, Inc. provides software solutions and services to the retail industry. The Company provides solutions that help retailers understand, create, manage and fulfill consumer demand. It is organized in three strategic business units: retail management solutions, store solutions and multi-channel retail solutions."
Sounds nice on paper, the reality though is that Island pacific is a company that was trading at 15$ back in 1999 that is trading at 0.08c now.
Anyways, searching for John Frabsile and Island Pacific yielded in a lot of these articles where John is quoted saying something, of the same nature that he gets "quoted" in the current asbolutesky press releases.
Here is one such example: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Island+Pacific+to+Showcase+Two+New+Offerings+at+Retail+Solutions%3B...-a0102598704
"There is tremendous opportunity for these new offerings as well as our entire solutions set in Europe," said John Frabasile, president of Island Pacific International. "We can feel the momentum building. We have made announcements with numerous European retailers including Retail Variations, The Entertainer, Center Parcs and Shoefayre, in just the past few months."
Does that remind you of anything?
He was saying this while the stock price has tumbled from over 10$ to 1.50$ in less then 3 years.
So a little more digging in the time contium, and brace yourself gents!
A FRAUD Law suit against him...by who? None other than Island Pacific!
I will let you savor this bit: http://sec.edgar-online.com/2004/06/29/0001019687-04-001444/Section4.asp
"On April 2, 2004, we filed a federal court action in the Southern District of California against 5R Online, Inc. ("5R"), John Frabasile, Randy Pagnotta, and Terry Buckley for fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, and unfair business practice arising from their evaluation of, recommendation for, and ultimately engagement in a development arrangement between IPI and 5R. Pursuant to the development agreement entered into in June 2003 upon reliance of the representations of the individual defendants that product development was progressing, **we paid $640,000 in development payments but received no product**.
Responsive pleadings will be served shortly, and the parties are exploring a business solution to the dispute. For fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, we have expensed payments of $640,000 and shown as other expense.
"
Ouch! John along with his partners seemed to have frauded Island Pacific out of 640,000$! Way to go johnny boy!
So curious I was to find out what exactly was or is "5R Online Inc", I continued my googling.
Here is the first instance I found:
"In June 2003, we entered into a development and marketing license agreement with 5R Online, Inc., a software and services company affiliated with John Frabasile and Randy Pagnotta, our two former officers (the "Former Officers"). Under this agreement, we obtain an exclusive right to sell and distribute this company's software. In return, we committed to fund $1.2 million toward development of this product. We also agreed to pay a royalty of 30% of the software license sales up until we have recuperated all the development funding, at which point the royalty will increase to 50% thereafter. We paid $640,000 toward this development but received no product. In April 2004, we filed a federal court action against 5R Online, Inc. and the Former officers.
For further discussion, see Item 3 under the heading "Legal Proceedings" above.
"
So apparently John decided to "re-start" a mitech type of company and to abuse of his former position as an officer at Island Pacific to sway them into a 1.2M$ contract, which apparently they never seen the color of any code whatsoever.
Wait, it gets even more interesting...
"Defendants Pagnotta and Buckley have counterclaimed against defendant Frabasile, who has moved to dismiss in light of a parallel action pending in Canada. Frabasile's and 5R Online, Inc.'s response to our complaint was due on August 9, 2004. A
settlement was entered, which was conditioned upon payment by the defendants of a first installment of $50,000. The defendants failed to pay the first installment and the litigation is therefore proceeding."
So not only did John screw Island Pacific, he apparently screwed his partners as well!
And now this is where it _really_ gets interesting. The next occurrence was this one: http://cocanada.com/Canadian/Computer%20Software/1/ which is nothing more than a listing of a bunch of companies.
"Company Name :
5R Online Inc
Address : 1375 Rte Transcanadienne,
Dorval, QC
H9P 2W8
"
Now, does this adress remind you of something?
It is the absolutesky address!!
So quickly I did a search for "5R absolutesky", and to my disappointment nothing came through.
So I remembered the good ol' government of quebec website with the search on the registered companies.
I started searching for 5R Online.
https://ssl.req.gouv.qc.ca/igif-bin/isl08tr1/cidreq/**URL**?matricule=1161907671&banque=C&action=ETAT_CIDREQ§ion1=O§ion2=O§ion3=O§ion4=O
Apparently it started in 2001, so that is while (or just a bit before) John was at Island pacific! Very weird.
It then goes to cite John and the secondary shareholder, and some other australian company as the primary one. The interesting aspect is that the company still an active status, but declares 0 employees.
The other thing to notice is that john is not the president but some other guy "BENJAMIN, ELGRESSY". Googling his name did not yield anything significant. The other thing to notice is that Tery Buckly, the guy that was sued by Island Pacific and that counter suing John is not on that list. Unless he represents the major shareholder company somehow. I will not dig deeper on that path.
So I remembered a while back reading something about another company getting acquired under John's Frabasile profile on absolutesky website: http://www.absolutesky.ca/leadership.shtml?currentMenu=Menu2_2
"In 2003, Mr. Frabasile combined his retail and software expertise with evolving RFID technologies and founded JavaPRO Solutions who's assets were acquired by AbsoluteSKY, Inc. in November 2005"
So I went on the government website again to fetch Javapro: https://ssl.req.gouv.qc.ca/igif-bin/isl08tr1/cidreq/**URL**?matricule=1162658869&banque=C&action=ETAT_CIDREQ§ion1=O§ion2=O§ion3=O§ion4=O
Nothing really exceptional except the fact that it was constituted in 2004 sometime near the Island Pacific lawsuit, and his partners counter suing. It might have been a way to escape some "assets" quickly from Island Pacific or said partners, frankly, I don't know, it is just speculation.
We also notice that the "JOHN FRABASILE FAMILY TRUST" is the majority owner in the company. Probably a tax evasion manoeuvre.
Nothing more down that path. Now let's search for absolutesky in that register. We come up with 6 different instances!!
There is a version where an absolutesky "nevada" is the majority owner, and other instances where absolutesky montreal is...really confusing, looks like some sort of camouflage operation to me.
I will let you have fun exploring this precious site.
So where does that leave us? Well, you can see from past and present history that not everything is kosher in this company, especially not the CEO.
I would like to know what happened with the lawsuit by the ex-partners of Frabasile, if it got resolved, and if it didn't how that will affect absolutesky in any way.
I tried to see if I can access the court documents of the canadian court to see the details, but it seems hard for me with all that french. If someone can pickup the job from here, I, and I am sure lot of others, would appreciate it.
OK, I'm out.
Anyone live in NY or going to the NRF show?
This is where the NRF2008 is happening. According to this page, you can go to the exposition for free if you are a "Retail & Store Design Professionals".
This where absilutesky will be showcasing their "newest" technology (according to the latest press release). So someone can witness the technology and speak with the personnel and confront them with their plans, etc...
I am pretty sure people from management, if not the CEO himself will be present, trying to collect sales contacts.
We can try and get the truth out of them person to person and get the vibe of the company.
Well, it wouldn't surprise me that they don't answer your e-mails.
They don't know what to say anymore for one because they seem to be repeating them selfs a lot, your email was a bit "rude" for two, and I am pretty sure they must be busy preparing for the NRF, which explains the high volumes were are seeing as of lately.
Does anyone live in NY? maybe you guys can go and check on them and their "new" technology, and ask them the questions in person!
Pink sheets is the home of penny stocks. There is some stocks at 0.001 (1/10th of a cent) and still trading.
Well, there is 24Million outstanding shares.
You are right in that it is a lot of volume, and I am pretty sure that they are dumping to make payroll.
The 800,000 shares at 0.05 average, that is 40,000$.
Say it is a company of 10 employees, 7 engineers and 3 management (I have no idea what big or how small the company is but I would guess near that figure). And average developer/architect/engineer would be somewhere along the 3,000$ per pay period. so that is 21,000$. Now an average manager salary is around the 4,000$ figure, so that add 15,000$ and you have 36,000$...add some expenses to that, and the rent, and you come close to the 40K figure.
The turnover have been tremendous, they sound desperate selling all these stocks.
I suspect that the much awaited multi-million financing deal never came through, and they are "self-funding".
You are forgetting on thing her JRMOAM.
In order for them to issue press releases, they have to be approved by all parties involved in press releases, in that case Fujitsu and Staples, two heavyweights with a lot of politics and that don't move fast at all.
They could kill ABSY without even realizing it. And since ABSY wants to probably not sound desperate to issue press releases to their big partners, there is only so much pressure they can put on them.
That's is an easy one. Even if insider trading is restricted on the Pink sheets (which I think it is, because insider trading is considered unfair to shareholders), then my "cousin" could always buy and sell stocks on the market...hey, it is "his" shares and he could do anything he wants with them.
Since pink sheets is an unregulated trading stock exchange market, with no involuntary disclosure of information or withholdings, it is really hard to nail my "cousin"...
Some glimpse of hope: The product is real, really!
Well, I have some glimpse of hope for all of you Absyers.
I was on the phone today with a trusted friend up north. I asked him early in the week if he could find out where the pilot store is located in Montreal and if he could validate that the RFID technology is real and being used by Staples. It was a desperate move on my behalf because I am loosing faith in this company, and even doubt that they have a product!
Apparently he called at ABSY and no one would tell him where the store was, he did find out that it was a Montreal location though. So he got the list of all the Staples stores in Montreal and he started by the closest one to ABSY.
Sure enough he located it no too far from where ABSY is located.
He got to see the tags and he even bought an item with the tag on it! It said "Absolutesky" on the tag. Apparently, he estimates the number of tags being in the thousand and they are mostly protecting USB sticks and software cases and some other expensive items.
He said that when he bought the item, the cashier took the items and "hit" the tag on some surface and it was registered on the cash station screen. He said that the tag looked exactly like the one in that picture http://media.canada.com/idl/vitc/20060721/205239-77614.jpg
So he asks the cashier about the tags and what they do, and she said that she has been told that it is a trial with a company for a product tracking system, and that it would replace eventually the bar code, or something along these lines. So, and listen to that, he proceeds to ask her if other Staples stores uses the same technology, and she said that the system will probably be installed in other stores!!!
Now, she is just a cashier, and I have no idea how reliable her information is, but I have 100% trust in my Canadian friend. He is a decent and honest guy. He said that she seemed sure of her answers. He couldn't ask too many questions without arising suspicion.
So, that's it...maybe you guys knew it all along, but I needed re-assurance of the validity of the product and the company I invested $10K in. And now, with a hint of some store adding the technology to their stores, we might have a winner on our hands.
Now, if only the freaking management was not so freaking shady and KNEW HOW TO EFFING MANAGE A PUBLIC COMPANY and stop liquidating shares to make payroll or for whatever other reason, we would all be sitting on a pot of gold. And that dumb IR firm that they have...what a waste of money.
To ABSY board of directors, FIRE YOUR IDIOT CEO, COO and CFO...Keep the CTO because he seems to be doing a great job in making the technology happen. THEY ARE KILLING THE COMPANY! WAKE-UP!
Smart man asdfg12345!! we need you over at ABSY
I like you analysis very much asdfg. You pursued it to extreme levels of details, and I for one, really apprecatied your intervention.
I think quite a few of us would appreciate your intervention and analysis over at ABSY.PK http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=5912
Thanks mate!
800K! What a volume!
Today we have seen the biggest trading volume on this stock.
Something is not jiving with the trend since the start of this stock. We never had anything near that volume.
Either something is being prepared for announcement shortly, or the company is not making payroll and selling their own stock for income.
I am starting to see my 10K (now worth 2500$) slowly fade away...
I never believed the 3.50$ takeover either. They never mentioned the name of the company that wanted to take over, and it was all so secretive.
Why would a European company pay 3.50$ for a startup that at the time had no clients and no contracts?
It reads fake all over it, like that CEO interview.
The one hope that I have is that I trust them when they say that they have a small set of installs coming with presumably Staples soon.
This is how big business operate. Staples will NOT give them the whole chain after a single store trial. They will first try 1 store, then 5 stores, then 15 stores to see how the technology scales up. Once they are satisfied, then it is the whole chain contract.
My concern: management. They seem to have a good product, but a somewhat bad/shady management. Their board looks decent on paper with some serious expertise from Bombardier,Lockheed, Protector and Gambles and the likes, but something is not spinning right. They should be in more places by now, not relying only on a single client.
I bought for 10K at 0.18, so it really angers me to see that company stuck on first drive and seems to be going nowhere any time soon.
I mean they might be as well selling their own stock, who knows?
They seem to be in need for cash with no revenue stream for so long, and being on an un-regulated stock market, no one really can asses if they are dumping their own stock.
I re-listned to that CEO interview, and man that interview was LAME. The worst scripted interview I heard so far. The guy doesn't even get the name of the CEO right!
And the stock keeps on plonging...0.06c!
What a shame...
This comapny has a HUGE potential of being the first largely deployed RFID product.
They have the shittiest IR firm I ever had the misfortune in dealing with. No return of phone calls, no support, etc...
They should change their firm ASAP and be more aggressive with the good news.
Never keep your investors blind!