PLANTATION, Fla., Jun 07, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Raptor Investments, Inc. (Pink Sheets:RAPT) announced today that it has signed a binding letter of intent with Thrifty Brothers, Inc. to acquire its thrift stores and eBay drop locations in both Clearwater, FL and Largo, FL. The LOI with Thrifty Brothers, a long standing community-focused thrift store, estate and corporate liquidator and power eBay (EBAY) member, marks Raptor Investments' second acquisition since the company's announcement that it is joining Las Vegas, NV based Net2Auction Inc. (Pink Sheets:NAUC) and Dallas, TX based Orbit Drop, Inc. (Pink Sheets:OBDP) in the eBay drop store business. The Company also announced that the acquisition of Tampa, FL based EZ Auctions & Shipping is scheduled to close on June 20, 2005.
Jamie DeSane, acting CEO of Raptor commented: "We are very pleased by the cash flow generating businesses that we are in the process of consolidating for Raptor shareholders. Thrifty Brothers' existing stores serve as both eBay drop locations and community-based thrift stores while its warehouse facility, in addition to housing the estate and corporate liquidation business, will provide the centralized shipping, receiving and storage operations for our immediate global eBay drop store operations. These critical infrastructure components will enable us to serve local communities and scale our model to an international audience immediately, without hastily or haphazardly acquiring retail presence for the sake of growth alone. We believe this focus will help the Company provide the highest quality service, ensure reliable cash flows and maintain the essential 'human element' and community focus through careful and deliberate thrift store acquisitions into which we will overlay the eBay drop store business."
Thrifty Brothers, an estate and corporate liquidator, opened its first retail store front in the beginning of 2005 and has experienced average monthly revenue in excess of $20,000, with costs of good sold (COGS) as a percentage of sales of 12.5%. DeSane remarked, "The Thrifty Brothers business, while not yet fully mature in terms of the industry average monthly revenues of fifty to sixty thousand dollars, already possesses compelling profit margins, that when scaled significantly, will be even more impressive." He continued, "The thrift and liquidation business will provide a solid base with which to smooth and stabilize our monthly revenue recognition." DeSane concluded: "Our next acquisition, which we anticipate announcing within the next week, will add a final critical business component and a two year operating revenue base of over $8 Million. At that point our integration team will unify all operations under the new global brand, implement state-of-the-art inventory management, supply chain and CRM infrastructure and initiate the company name and symbol change."
Raptor Investments has scheduled the closing of the EZ Auctions & Shipping acquisition for Monday, June 20th, 2005. EZ Auctions & Shipping, Inc. has completed over 8,000 eBay transactions to date, representing more than twice the combined totals of rivals, Orbit Drop & Net2Auction. Market capitalizations for the three eBay drop store sector constituents suggest considerable disparity. Based on Monday's closing prices and available share data, Net2Auction has a market capitalization of $118.9 Million (based on 49,154,500 shares outstanding), Orbit Drop has a market capitalization of $226.8 Million (based on 202,550,000 shares outstanding) and Raptor Investments has a market capitalization of approximately $4.98 Million (based on 92,325,181 shares outstanding).
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