KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 02/09/12 -- World Surveillance Group Inc. (OTCBB: WSGI), a developer of lighter-than-air unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and related technologies, today issued a letter to its shareholders from the Company's Chairman Michael K. Clark and President and CEO Glenn D. Estrella. The letter sets forth certain strategic goals and objectives of the Company for 2012 following the recently closed $5.5 million institutional investment in the Company and the Argus One UAV flight exercises in Nevada.
Dear Fellow Shareholders,
On behalf of ourselves, the entire management team and our Board of Directors, we would like to thank each of you for your continued support and confidence in the Company. We want to take this opportunity, following the first institutional financing of World Surveillance Group Inc., to share with you not only our general enthusiasm for the upcoming year but also certain more specific goals and objectives we have established for the Company for 2012. We are very excited by the prospects of WSGI in 2012 as evidenced by our continued commitment to and financial support of the Company.
We recognize that 2011 was a challenging year for WSGI and our shareholders. Our management team needed to re-evaluate many aspects of the Company including its business, technology and partner relationships and numerous changes were made to better position the Company for future growth. Unfortunately not all of these changes were readily apparent to our shareholders. Management has worked diligently to raise additional capital to continue our operations in a very difficult economic environment and was able to resolve numerous continuing legacy matters remaining from prior management. We believe the execution by management on these and other strategic initiatives in 2011 has prepared us for significant growth in 2012.
In addition to the above, the Company:
Advanced the development and commercialization of our Argus One airship culminating in the recent government sponsored flight exercises in Nevada where our airship remains stationed ready for additional testing and demonstrations.
Completed the acquisition of Global Telesat Corp. (GTC) to diversify the Company's business, expand its product line, add near-term revenue streams, and capitalize on the rapidly growing global market for tracking and messaging services as well as GTC's unique contracts with Globalstar.
Refocused the Company's airship development program on U.S. based technology by expanding the relationship with Eastcor Engineering, resulting in not only the redesign and development of the Argus One UAV but the filing of the Company's first provisional patent application relating to the airship which we intend to transform into a full patent application in the next several weeks.
Raised approximately $2 million in several private placements to fund operations and product research and development, and recently completed the Company's first institutional financing in the aggregate amount of $5.5 million, providing a much needed capital inflow for the expansion of the Company's research and development, sales and marketing efforts, and operations.
Established a relationship with Oklahoma State University - University Multispectral Laboratories, LLC (UML) to collaborate in support of research, development, testing and evaluation activities associated with our LTA UAV platforms.
Strengthened the corporate governance structure of the Company by adopting numerous governance-related policies, as well as adding several independent board members and an audit committee financial expert.
Resolved numerous legacy litigious matters and began to implement a process to reduce the Company's outstanding debt to strengthen our balance sheet.
Despite disappointment in the recent performance of the Company's stock, in large part we believe as a result of certain significant stock issuances the Company was forced to make to resolve legacy issues, we view 2012 as the year that WSGI takes a giant leap forward by capitalizing on the hard work and accomplishments of management and our partners over the past year and a half. We know we still have much hard work ahead of us but we look forward to working together with our partners to make WSGI a resounding success in 2012. We continue to feel the Company is well positioned to generate revenues from both our line of UAVs and the GTC products and services in 2012.
Now that we have secured a significant source of ongoing capital inflow to the Company, we want to share with you certain more specific goals that we have established for WSGI for 2012, as set forth below. We will continue to work diligently to accomplish each and every goal we have set for ourselves and hope that these efforts translate into increased value for all of our shareholders in 2012. We intend to expand our shareholder communications throughout the year by providing timely updates of the Company's material activities as we are able through press releases, periodic newsletters and our website.
In 2012, we plan to:
Adequately capitalize the Company to expand our internal operations especially technical, sales and marketing, and operations personnel.
Continue the development and commercialization of our Argus One line of airships and demonstrate to our Government sponsors and potential commercial customers the capabilities and cost-effectiveness of the Argus One UAV to drive revenues.
Aggressively target and market GTC's tracking and messaging and ground station construction services to potential Government and commercial customers to capitalize on the existing GTC contracts with Globalstar.
Establish a U.S. retail market for GTC's mobile satellite services and products as a way to generate an additional revenue stream.
Expand our relationships with UML and other technical partners to not only support our current LTA UAV product line but also to advance the research, development and testing of our next generation airships.
Continue to develop strategic relationships with partners to advance the marketing and sale of the Company's products and services.
Strengthen and expand our portfolio of intellectual property.
Continue to execute our strategy to strengthen our balance sheet and fiscal condition through the reduction of debt, resolution of remaining legacy matters and increased capitalization.
Enhance our overall corporate governance structure by, among other things, the appointment to our Board of Directors of qualified independent members who can assist the Company in this next phase of our growth.
On behalf of the entire management team and Board of Directors of WSGI, we look forward to sharing with you a prosperous year and hope to see you at our annual shareholder meeting in July 2012.
Michael K. Clark
Chairman
Glenn D. Estrella
President and CEO
AI
