I made a call to Talbot 10 minutes ago to ease some of my anxieties. I asked him a series of questions and have included the answers afterwards (I don't take short-hand, so the answers represent my best recollection of his comments and/or my understanding of the gist of his comments - they are not verbatum quotes, though as close as can make them):
1) Has the company received the $25MM from the Nigerian contract yet? No, it comes in tranches with the first one in 30-60 days.
2) Have any shipments been made yet? Yes, the company has 220,00 kits ready to ship to Nigeria to the military due to go out in 2 weeks. The company only ships once it has received payment for the kits. There are 315,00 kits due to be shipped to China in the next week or so.
3) The company annouced in Jan that it had shipped 165,000 kits and estimated about 200,00 for Feb and 250,00 for March - were these shipments made? Yes, the company has been shipping and at about those levels. The company receives payment before shippping and is in great financial shape right now.
4) How is the FYE 2004 audit going? It is just about done.
5) When will the audited financials be released? I don't comment on dates like that. (But are they done?) They are just about ready.
6) Why does the transfer agent report almost 3 billion shares outstanding when the company reported about 2.1 billion in March - which is accurate? The transfer agent doesn't know all the transactions that are going on with the company, which includes cancelling shares/taking shares back into treasury, when certain deals do not get consummated. The 2.1 billion share count is the more accurate figure. The auditors are the ones who come in and reconcile the exact share totals and the audit is just about completed.
7) Why is the stock price so low if the company is doing so well? The market makers and others control the price movement and work to move the price down so they can buy low and make money on this stock. Their day will come.
He was polite, patient, talkative and cordial. He did not respond in any way like the descriptions given by others recently on this board.
I feel better though not completely at ease (that won't happen until the PPS actually goes up a lot).
GLTA longs
