2014: ECIG Used toxic debt to acquire brands- many of which had out of date products. ECIG is literally a combination of those brands now. Tried to raise funds/get listed on NASDAQ. Underwritten by Goldman Sachs. Fell through because on paper because the opportunity looked rough - tons of toxic debt and products needing updated. Toxic convertible debt all converted and drove the market cap into the ground/diluted to max OS.
2015: Leadership at fault get replaced with top class leadership during Q1 2015. New leadership promised new, non-toxic financing and sustainable growth to positive cash flow. 15 for 1 RS occurred after shareholder vote. New leadership has delivered new non-toxic financing with stable terms that replaced all remaining toxic debt. First quarter results showed the company still taking large losses but cost cutting initiatives were underway in Q1 and product costs were reduced significantly versus 2014 increasing margin. COGS were lowered substantially versus Q3 and Q4 2014.
ECIG has institutional investors and a major partner in the Mansour Group who is committed to distributing ECIG products in the ME and Africa. Leadership has delivered what has been promised so far. Q2 earnings call is a first in ECIG history and should be revealing as new leadership has not been sharing any developments through PR. On the product front, during Q1 ECIG rolled out new vaping products which are more up to date with current consumer demands. Vapestick and VIP in the UK are the most successful brands and have found a lot of traction in the UK. FIN is the US brand and also began rolling out the vaping system in the US during Q1 2015 along with a national advertising campaign.
Most don't consider Q2 earnings likely to show a turnaround - but do expect Dan and Phil to discuss major cost cutting initiatives, potential distribution growth, and forward looking potential for the company. This could drive the price per share north as there could be reason for positive speculation about the future. Dilution has halted with total OS a little above 70 million and the vast majority of the remaining shares in the AS committed to investors who have financed ECIG.
I didn't include sources because it would take forever and I wanted this to be a brief overview that would spark individual DD to read the filings, news release, etc...and I got lazy. Some good links below though. Please let me know if there are any details I need to change and I'll refresh this post.
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