December 22, 2000
Dear shareholders,
Never Fear-Never Quit
As I type this note I am directly staring at the words pasted on my
screen, "Never Fear-Never Quit". This is a statement that not only do
I view every day, but, I work by. The other statement that I work by
it is "Success is creating a state of mind that allows you to obtain
whatever it is you really want".
Dr. Victor Frankel the author of "Man's Search for Meaning In Life"
was one of the few survivors of Auschwitz. He was a German Jewish
psychiatrist who somehow managed to live where tens of thousands of
others died. With little food for clothing and no medical attention,
he was forced to stand by while his fellow prisoners were cremated.
Upon being released, he was asked how he managed to survive. What
powers did he have that others lacked? How he managed to stay alive?
If you read his book you'll find that he replied, "I always knew that
my attitude was my own choice. I could choose to despair or be
hopeful. But to be hopeful I had to focus on something I wanted."
Dr. Frankel decided to focus on his wife's hands. He wanted to hold
them one more time. He dreamed of being an able to embrace his wife
again and to be heart to heart one more time. That focus kept him
alive throughout this horrible tragedy.
Dr. Frankel did not have more energy available to him than the others
at this concentration camp. But rather than using that energy in
despairing at what was happening to him and those around him, he
focused on a single goal; he gave himself a reason to survive, and by
concentrating on that reason, he was indeed able to survive. He
created in attitude of hope for himself. At times tried to convince
others of hope. When his attitude was positive, his mood took care of
the rest. He is known to have stated, "Today, in order to survive,
you must do this in this and that." As long as he stayed focused, he
was a survivor.
Focusing our energies including our corporate plans for expansion in a
single-minded manner or direction can work for us just as it did for
Dr. Frankel.
At Struthers, we have always strived to lead the industry in a number
of areas, all of which have been outlined numerous times through PR's,
interviews and corporate discussions.
As you know, one of our corporate goals was to achieve the status of a
fully reporting listed company on the OTC: BB prior to the holidays.
We achieved this. And as you also know, this has been a long drawn out
process, but a milestone we knew would be obtained. I have
congratulated everybody before, however, I would like to take this
opportunity to say thank you for those of you who at times doubted the
process, but still had perseverance and patience to believe that we
would accomplish the goal.
During the year we dedicated our energies to building a solid
foundation from which to grow. As an emerging growth biotech Corp. we
needed a solid foundation to move forward. Which we have today. While
we are still a young company, we have put together many of the
important elements necessary for our future growth. Over the last many
months I have watched with amazement of just how many "solid"
companies have been traumatized in the securities market by the
fluctuation in the economy, the election and the fact that many
investors had an excellent start to the new millennium but had to take
substantial losses in their stock portfolios to cover their gains,
which we have seen recently. Speaking to a number of security brokers
and mature investors the whole market has taken a severe beating over
the last few weeks. Obviously, we were among those companies who have
taken the hit. I believe as these brokers do that the rebound is
imminent.
Now that we are fully listed and trading on the OTC: BB we now wait as
our marketmakers transfer trading privileges from the pink sheets to
the Bulletin Board. For this to happen to marketmakers must fill out
the appropriate forms (211) and send them to the NASDAQ to be approved
to trade STRU on the OTC: BB. At this very moment we have marketmakers
who have sent in the appropriate forms and we have marketmakers who
are the process of filling out and sending in these forms. Once this
process has completed it is my opinion that you'll see more activity
with our stock, of course along with our support through PR's and
marketing measures we have put in place.
As I mentioned above we have built a solid foundation from which to
grow. We have made acquisitions, asset acquisitions, developed new
innovative technology which is getting worldwide attention and we have
doubled our staff which now numbers over 40. We have also added a
number of noted consultants in different fields of specialties. We
have also added more animals through alliances with producers to meet
my objectives, which I set forth in previous correspondence. During
the fall we opened our state-of-the-art Boar Stud facility located in
Minnesota and have been in the process of stocking this facility. In
addition we have also added alliances with Packers who can process our
product to the specifications that our clients are requesting. David
Diebold, VP sales, has started a pipeline of hogs moving from the
producer to the Packer to the consumer on a weekly basis. Shipments
of our own brand label TENDERPRIME has been growing daily and we have
been adding to this line considerably with other all natural and
organic products. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all
those who have ordered these products and I look forward to
introducing the new products during the first quarter 2001.
I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome aboard all of
our new staff that joined us this year, including Dr. Alan Carlson and
Dr. Dennis Gourley. We have not ceased our hiring as we are also
bringing onboard other veterinarians and technicians to keep up with
our increasing surgical and nonsurgical workload which has occurred as
a direct result of the asset acquisition of Elite Visions and the
Gourley Scope. If I may comment concerning our recent trip to Germany
and visit to the largest meat and poultry show in the world located in
Hanover Germany, the Gourley Scope was of major interest to many large
corporations. At the same time Germany experienced their first case
of mad cow disease (BSE) and as a result experienced a dramatic
decline in beef sales. Concerns over beef products sparked increased
sales and interest in the consumption of pork products. Our
technology and genetics reviewed by many and the result was a number
of meetings which has now lead to a number of new clients. More
information will be released in the near future as to the outcome of
these ongoing discussions.
I'm also very pleased to announce that we have leased a new office in
Munich, Germany which at the moment is being refurbished and scheduled
for occupancy late in the first quarter 2001. We also created a new
German subsidiary, Struthers Biotech AG that will serve the European
Community with our products and services, including live animals,
embryos and semen. As noted above we have experienced a great deal of
interest from the European Community, and we took steps necessary to
make our presence known in Europe. We're very excited about this new
venture and we are also very excited with the fact that we're going
back to Europe in January to finalize projects, which actually started
during the World Pork Expo.
Although, we have been very quiet we have not been on holiday. One
only has to read over the last year's PR's, interviews and
correspondence from this office to find that we have grown
considerably. For me personally next year starts on the 26th of
December, as I cannot wait for January 1st. We have planned our work
and we are working our plan. No one should think, that just because
you are quiet does not mean that you're not out building a
masterpiece. I sit here remembering the days when we took over this
company and the stock was at half of a penny. We should all be proud
of the fact that we made it through the auditing process and that the
half of the 7500 companies that are being audited will not return to
the OTC: BB. We should also be proud of the fact that during the year
we had over 95 million more shares bought than were sold. We added to
our investor base and we continue to add to our investor base of
roughly 25,000 investors ...and this in such a short period of time.
I would like to thank all those who have e-mailed me and had suggested
new ideas for the company and also took the time to share with others
information on our unique industry.
I wish you all the best for safe and happy holiday and I truly look
forward to starting a new year with your Company. We have now finished
the building phase and entering the New Year with global presence.
Enjoy your family and go hug somebody! I plan to!
As always, warmly,
Douglas W. Beatty, Ph.D.
President/CEO
Struthers, Inc.
Certain statement in this press may constitute "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance
on statements, each of which speak only as of the date made. All such
forward-looking statements are only estimates of future results and
actual results may differ materially from those anticipated or
projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise
any such forward-looking statements.
