Bill V sounded a bit frustrated about this, but gall darn it, he is second in command in the company. Grab your son and tell him to grab hold of the company and make good on his promises. With all the $$$ we've invested the last thing I want is a concession that the company is way behind in this effort. Give me a break!
I too remember making a call in Dec and being told the letters to shareholders were 'days away' and just had to be sent regarding the merger. Is there an issue with the merger/financials? Pretty soon one will think that indeed yes there is if they don't get it done.
They need to quit the rah-rah and get down to the facts. It's apparent by the call today that we folks are no longer enamored with promises. We want facts and execution...
There are a lot of minor league "goings on" at this company, but they have a good formula and are have some great managers in my opinon... Cash is the #1 reason little companies struggle. Their runway is not terribly long at $32K/week in expenses, rest assured... At 180 stores for break-even (best case scenario), they are definitely behind on executing their plan... Enough enamoring us shareholders, please, and figure out why you haven't executed the conversion strategy (Bill V stated they haven't, which is encouraging), and get things moving. in the last week we've gone from 9 stores open to 7 stores open... Dare I post press releases that state Milwaukee alone would have dozens of locations, or that we'd do $84M in 2007 (right!). I can post links to these PR's for anyone to read the public statements.
Last week Tom D spoke of only being concerned on executing what they've promised rather than issuing new releases, well, they've promised a lot and I don't believe they will meet their 07 goals. Just show progress is what I'm asking for at this point, and rush us to Cash-Flow positive so we long-term shareholders have a decent shot of making some cash...
The man who asked "not to dilute" us should be commended, by the way... The fact that Bill V said "we have financing" options tells me they aren't watching the $$$'s close enough - do NOT dilute us guys. Money is easy right now, building a business is not - do NOT let obtainable finance be a crutch! Getting access to capital costs money, and it's not okay to keep dipping back into the well...
I hope we keep pressing these guys... The market cap is $50M (or so) right now, and IF Jim V has a controlling stake he has over $25M net worth on this right now. Step up and execute for those that put millions into this company to help fulfill a dream. If Bill V is second in charge and can't answer seemingly simple questions, and seems frustrated on the call regarding certain issues, get in the board room and figure stuff out. Who is the bottleneck at UPZS?
In my opinion, all the "I'm frustrated" comments (RE: merger, delayed openings), etc... are no good in my book. Get it done, and I don't care if you must work weekends. I may begin calling the company at 5AM or midnight (my hours of operation) and ensure someone is fixing these problems.
As for FC and the dumping shares issues, I disagree wholeheartedly with Skunk - all sellings aren't created equal. All we are hearing and have heard is lip-service out of FC, and if they are dumping a large amount of shares I want to know, and I think it's pertinent to the company in its future dealings with the firm. Apparently they were paid in stock (from the CC I gathered this), and in order to turn this into cash, you need to sell... Seems they are a possible candidate to be the seller IMO. It's obvious I don't trust them, just my gut.
All IMO.
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