Just saw a typo in item 1 - apologies, looks ok now. Happy New Year.
Seems appropriate, at the 90 day halfway mark of the management self-imposed 180 success deadline, to wonder about basic changes needed to create the envisioned success.
Changes to outrageous share structure have been suggested for many years. The list of prudent management steps below was posted on December 6th, as a brief synopsis. Now, almost 3 months since management changed, or did it really? The effect on share price is obvious if common sense prevails over greed and stupidity. Note that with numerous positive steps by the BIEL team on sales and FDA, the share price has not moved at all, zero. Only time with tell if they will do the right things or not:
If I were running the show, particularly given that Whelan family management is seeking additional investment by current shareholders, here are 7 simple steps I would take today, to reverse the outrageous damage by previous Whelan management, in order of priority. Without the outrageous share structure change suggested, how could anyone in their right mind place trust that things have changed snce early October? Not a chance. You would think they would be embarrassed. It would have been the first thing on my list and share price would not be in the same toilet its been in for years!
To me, and in the opinion of numerous shareholders who have voiced their opinions in the last 3 months, success requires all of the following calm, remedial actions, not just one or two; that obviously won't work and shareholders and the marketplace are not stupid. All of the suggested steps, and as rapidly as possible, to demonstrate openness, initiative, courage, earn trust, attract new shareholders and a plan involving steps for success. No more delay:
Only time with tell if Patricia and Kelly Whelan will do the right things, or not. It is to their direct financial benefit to just bite the imaginary bullet and protect themselves by incorporating vision, instead of remaining mired in absurd greed:
1. Immediately revise the outrageous shareholdings of the Whelan/IBEX/St. Johns master plan that resulted in total shares, on conversion of all Promissory Notes securing convertible loans, of around 62 billion shares. It seems the Whelans would own around 35 billion of that 62 billion or 60% +-. By reducing their shares by 28 billion, to 7 billion, the new total becomes around 34 billion and they would then own 25% +-. No questions, no buts, no nuthin, it has to be done. Some say it should be reduced to 3.5 billion, max, that's a judgment call, whatever it takes to repair the previous damage. The question becomes, would you rather own 60%, 35 billion shares, of a crippled company worth nothing and going nowhere fast, or 25%, 7 billion shares of a company under restructuring, that gives a toilet dweller half a chance to scratch and claw its way out of that toilet?;
2. Make a commitment to absolute transparency with shareholders, who may or may not invest further funds in the restructuring, unless there is a business strategy or position to protect. Without such openness and transparency, why would anyone consider further investment, given the abject history?;
3. In the case of potential investment by existing shareholders, put your best offer forward, so they don't feel they are still being jerked around. The toxicity of the past lingers and that must be eradicated by the new management culture, otherwise, forget it;
4. Clean the house of the toxicity of the previous crippling dictatorship. It does not matter what was done right. There were dozens, hundreds, thousands of things done right and professionally by the collective dedicated management team of BIEL. A restructuring like this only involves those many negative aspects that put the company in the toilet and nothing else!
Those are known with pinpoint accuracy and there is always a lingering toxicity associated with a dictator's name, particularly when nepotism in king.. Take a silent back seat for a couple of years. It has and will be said, "that was him, this is us". Nonsense! You can't get rid of family name toxicity and stench with words, you have to spray the joint and then disinfect it, produce tangible results! The company was infected! Get over it! No blame, just get rid of the infection. Without doing that, people are saying, "really, but they are so and so and so from the past and weren't they highly involved all that time? It's still the Whelans!" Swallow the pride and anger, realize that successful businesses are run with heads, not hearts, and just get rid of the infection! And, the longer it is delayed, now almost 3 months,the more the infection spreads, it's what poison does. Why wait and remain in the toilet?;
5. Increase the Board of Directors to 5 or 7, increasing it to 3, two Whelans and Keith Nalepka, makes it still a Whelan board, that makes Keith Nalepka vulnerable to the greed of the past players. Not a solution, not even close. Remember, shareholders are not stupid, as was often said at BIEL! Place trust in the new slate of Directors to make prudent decisions and manage this toilet dweller out of mushroom land. If mistrust is the order of the day, then misery will remain. No one really cares what's in the books, everyone can easily imagine the decade of self-serving gymnastics that went on, past employees have shared the reluctance of management to opening up the books. Pssssttt, no one cares, unless they are angry at having lost money! Shareholders are only looking forward to restructuring and success, not backwards, out of fear and guilt, that there were games. Of course there were games.;
6. Delegate all responsibilities of communication with the public and shareholders to Keith Nalepka and Dr. Sree Koneru. This will give them the credibility they need and deserve and help to eradicate the toxicity. Announce it today, not tomorrow, today;
7. Negotiate the best deals, with as many retail entities, as quickly as reasonably possible. I said to previous management a dozen times, "just make the best deal you possibly can early on. Once you are on shelves, others will come, but get the first one or two done. Retailers cannot stand that competitors have SKUs they don't have." The response? "No, why should they make all that money?" Imagine saying "no" to CVS, Dr. Scholl's and KT Tape, for thirty seconds and you will shake your head for a week, which is what I did! There is much more, not worth repeating. Keith Nalepka knows how to do it, let him do it.
