Magician - Email response from IPI's investor relations department. I dont think anything "smells" here.
From: "Tricia Skoda" <TSkoda@islandpacific.com> Add to Address Book
Subject: RE: please reply to shareholder concerns
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2004 15:49:30 -0800
Dear _____,
As you know, I was out of town
last
week so there were many things to catch up on.
This is what I can tell you. The entire market took a nose dive after
the
bombing in Spain. Our stock has taken longer to recover. As you
indicated,
we did a financing transaction which was not well received for reasons
I can
not speculate on. Other than the one transaction Mr. Braun spoke of
during
the 3Q Earnings Release conference call, we have not lost significant
opportunities and we are working diligently to close as many deals as
possible by the end of our fiscal year (March 31k, 2004). You may
understand that all suppliers come under heavy pressure to discount
product(s) at the end of the year and we are no exception. We seek to
temper
that with deals that remain good for the company and good for the
customer.
Part of the nervousness surrounding our stock may have been the
expiration
of the "Softline options" which expired March 24th. I think many
investors
feared that the options would flood the market and dilute the share
price.
While I can not predict the future, we are working very closely with
Sage
(who acquired Softline).
We will hold a conference call when our annual earnings are released,
and
investors will have the opportunity to ask questions. We hope to be
able to
announce within the next three weeks. I will tell you personally that
the
company is financially better than it has been for years; we continue
to
follow our strategic plan and have been very successful in many of our
initiatives -- improving our balance sheet, eliminating long term debt,
developing partner relationships and acquisitions, as well as improving
our
pipeline. Our biggest problem has been in closing sales and we believe
that
integrating Page Digital adds depth and experience we were lacking. We
remain on track with the acquisition of RTI which will open a vendor
network
we have never had before.
I hope I have answered some of your questions. And again accept my
apology
for not getting back to you sooner and then not reading your messages
before
responding when I did! Please feel free to email me anytime.
Tricia Skoda
