Not surprised to see financials finally as the market for the stock had all but dried up. Here comes MRIB 3.0! LOL. And these books are about as cooked as I've ever seen. The disclaimer from the accountant was a preview of what to expect. I haven't gone through all of it yet but a few things jump out.
First is the obvious. How did MRIB with no employees, no rent, no marketing and advertising, no known operating expenses and Margrit deferring salary spend over $100,000 a month? What was the value received by MRIB? Anybody venture even a guess?
Sales of $56,000. Sold or shipped? I am highly suspicious of this number as no one can find product anywhere other than a handful of Costco stores in Los Angeles. I know what they sold at Total Wine to the bottle which leaves less than 20 or so total locations even with all the Costco stores claimed. That's around $1000 per location. That's something like 100 bottles per month. Uh, I don't think so. Regardless, there are other discrepancies.
How did MRIB sell at least two times more in product than deducted from inventory? Again, the numbers don't jibe. A $25,000 reduction in inventory for the prior 12 months and $50,000 in net sales for just the last nine months. Shipped not sold, sold not shipped? Who knows but there's some splainin' to do Lucy. And what happened to three full containers of product in the last 12 months? Even at $80 a case, much less than their claimed margin, that's over $360,000 in inventory. With less that $60,000 in net sales it would appear that $300,000 in inventory has gone "missing". Matter of fact, the last container shipped never appears on any of the financial reports and it would appear the June 2014 shipment doesn't either. We won't even go into the 4000 cases from 2010 worth well over $350,000 that all but vanished against zero in sales from 2010 to 2014.
And some odds and ends that some may not have picked up on. Advertising and promotion for the period. $525 total. Wondering if that includes the vodka MRIB gave away. LOL. Anyway it just goes to show that MRIB is spending absolutely nothing on promotin the product or brand. Conversely, how much did they pay their stock promoter and investment relations folks?
As to the "deals", It looks like Margrit really had the old printing press going. And as I said many months ago as is stated numerous times in the report, authorized shares are deficient in covering debt obligations. I haven't done the math yet but should be able to figure it out when I get a chance. But with deal at 66% of trailing market price on a bunch of those deals, just one of the $100,000 notes would require more than current A/S.
Another item that jumped out... I asked who owns Marani Spirits, Inc. As the merger agreement made no mention other than MEI supposedly changed their name. Funny how they did that considering Marani Spirits, Inc. was incorporated six years prior and there are no filings related to any interaction between the two entities. Furthermore, and for the first time in any report I've seen, it is actually stated that MRIB does not own Marani Spirts, Inc. It is NOT a wholly owned subsidiary. If in fact MRIB only owns 80% who is getting the rest and why is MRIB taking 100% of the debt and liabilities.
Last one which is not in the report and is a real red flag I stumbled on a while back but didn't mention. Who or what is Golden Hawk? Buried in the merger agreement is a single line mentioning this as a subsidiary of MEI. What is Margrit and MRIB doing owning what appears to be a Swiss controlled Hong Kong holding company? For those not familiar it's a red flag as Hong Kong became one country of choice for hiding money that U.S. citizens used to hide in Switzerland before the crackdown. Maybe this is where $30 million ended up! LOL.
Bottom line is Margrit had to get this report out to get the trading going again. How much of it is accurate is questionable as many numbers don't jibe and claimed sales don't seem to line up with locations and/or availability not to mention the anemic marketing support. But getting any straight answers is pretty much impossible and I expect will remain so. Perhaps one can stake out the MRIB offices, uh... Post office box, and wait for Margrit to show up! LOL
AI
