Shareholder Meeting Feedback.
This is my first post to the board, and I want to start by thanking Rocky for his tireless and effective management of the board. I've owned GTE for about a year now, and attended the SHM on Thursday night, but have not had time until now to provide everyone my thoughts and perspective on the meeting.
The meeting was actually held in 2 parts, a 2 hour reception where shareholders could have face-to-face talks with Tim Huff and his management team. The 2nd part was the actual 2 hour official SHM where Tim and his senior management team presented updates on the core areas of the business. I found the most value during the reception where many of us had a chance to have one on one dialogues directly with Tim, Michael Molen, Bob Jones and others. During these discussions, it became very clear to me that they are a talented group with substantial vision around the Stratelite and related products, and have a pretty sound business plan and business model. It was also clear that they are still a company in its infancy, experiencing the normal growing pains typical of companies this size. Here's some specific information I heard:
Tim is a well spoken, technically competent guy with a clear vision about our company, who I believe is just developing the core skills necessary to be a geat CEO. He admitted that he had made mistakes in telling us about specific target dates for the Strat construction and launch schedules. He said he now understands better the complexities of this type of project, and will share his utmost confidence that the technology will work, but that specific timelines are impossible to give given the complexities involved.
Michael Molen doesn't appear to be going anywhere, except around the world selling the Stratelite. He told me that he is very confident in the technology and the company's ability to construct, test, launch and ultimately manufacture and sell the product. Of all the GTE management team at the meeting, he and Bob Jones gave me the most confidence that this is a product that WILL be successfully launched and commercialized. As for timing, it sounded like they expected the next strat to be constructed and tested before the end of the year (up to 45,000 feet if all goes well). They have the hanger prepared for construction, and many of the parts and construction materials ordered (which they expect to see arriving at the hanger in the next several weeks). Bob said they will be testing several photovoltaic and battery products to choose the best technology for the final commercial product. This first strat will have a planned payload of 100 pounds, and the final commercial version a potential payload of 2000 pounds. Based on everything Michael Molen and Bob Jones told me, I would think they'll have this next strat ready for testing before the end of the year.
The Hotzone products, Magic Money Cards, IP Phone equipment, carrier traffic (Centerline) all seem to be getting established for sale or growth, but it will all depend on how good their sales people are. The business models are good, but they're entering into the real world of commercial sales where it will be a challenge to get customers to commit dollars to the products and services. It's one thing to have good products, but its entirely another to close the sale. I think they have the passion to do it though, and I'm definitely holding my shares for the long run!
The company is definitely in the early growth mode. They have just hired a Human Resources manager, legal council, comptroller, and a brand new outside PR firm. They are adding office space for growth and looking to upgrade their financial software to handle all the bookkeeping and accounting for the growing business.
The SHM itself was not overly impressive, as they don't have a large staff to put together pretty powerpoint presentations and fancy graphics to help tell their story. Not too big a deal really, but I think they'll need to improve in this area (hopefully with the help of the PR outfit) if they are to be more successful with institutional or large individual investors.
Sorry for the long message, but I thought I'd give everyone my 2 cents. Bottom line is I attended the meeting to see if this was a real company with good potential. I came away feeling very confident in my investment, and will not only hold my position, but may add if some of those silly traders out there test the lows of the share price again.
Oilman47