I have a recording of the internet radio interview Hayter gave in 2005 right before a share dividend, to 'clear things up'. In that interview, he said IBCX was a $30M company and that the Royal Arkansas Hotel was worth $20M alone. We all know what happened there. After the credit card fraud to pay the hotel workers, this management team ransacked the hotel in the middle of the night, stealing furniture, the bar, two birds, and ripped out hard drives out of all the office computers.
I turned out the hotel forclosed and was hardly worth $500k.
My point is we are going through the exact same scenario.
1. share dividend (shareholders will realise after it's too late that it was actually a forward split)
2. publicly announce that so and so isn't part of the company (the last time they did that it was proven to be a lie)
3. keep issuing press releases about the current share structure in the name of transparrency, but fail to let us know what the numbers will be after.
4. announce the company is persuing othe acquisitions ( many of them are never consumated, and there are drawn out delays)
5. come out with press releases addressing message board discussions (that's all they do, read the boards)
6. gagged TA (anyone who says this TA isn't gagged needs to wake up)
7. the use of an answering service and not a direct line (the company obviously has an office somewhere, why can we reach it)
8. when the CEO calls back it will be from a private number (it's for their own safety)
9. oh yeah, I forgot about the extention of the dividend - priceless!
10. the very same restaurant holding company that Hayter has traded around the last few times they played this shell game. (don't people ask themselves the obvious? If Red Robin bought a location from The Chili Club, wouldn't they acquire it under their own holding company?
11. pretty soon we should see a press release about the company threatening legal action against certain parties for spreading rumors and trying to damage the reputation of the company. (they never go forward with this, as the evidence they would have to give in discovery would be too incriminating)
So, although some might think there are not enough similarities to draw conclusions, I don't think it's rocket science. If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it must be a sheep!