Replies to post #8106 on Sequiam Biometrics (fka SQUM)

[cappttenron]

Here is some info I found. Looks like they will be closing about half of the retail stores. They are closed mouth as is SQUM at this point. At Sharper Image, sales declined 25% in 2007. Like a growing number of distressed companies, the retailer found itself unable to borrow more money in recent months, as it had done between 2004 and mid-2007, people familiar with the matter say.

Its lender, Wells Fargo & Co., was unwilling to refinance Sharper Image's debt, in part because it found no interest when it looked to sell pieces of the loan to outside investors, these people say. As a result, the retailer "never got the last $10 million" of the financing it expected, one of these people says. Keeping Sharper Image out of bankruptcy court, he says, "was going to take tremendous financing," which wasn't available in the tight credit markets. A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo declined to comment.

Sharper Image, which employs about 2,500, said yesterday it expects to close nearly half its 190 stores and reorganize the remaining operations. The company "could well be sold" during the bankruptcy process, says the person familiar with the situation, but company officials have yet to begin looking for a buyer. Calls for comment to Sharper Image weren't returned.

[analystslie]

Sharper Image Corp., which operates two stores in the St. Louis area, plans to close 90 stores and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the company said Wednesday.

The San Francisco-based company said in a release it intends to conduct business as usual while it develops a reorganization plan. It operates 184 stores, including locations in the St. Louis Galleria and Chesterfield Mall, in 38 states and Washington, D.C.

The company has not yet identified the sites it plans to close.

[analystslie]

Specialty retailer Sharper Image Corp. won interim court approval to tap $35 million worth of financing to operate its business while it restructures in bankruptcy.

Pending litigation over Sharper Image's air purifiers was one of the factors cited for the liquidity crisis that drove the company to file for Chapter 11 protection. Once one of Sharper Image's highest margin products, the Ionic Breeze air purifiers have drawn lawsuits, including one in Florida that the company attempted to settle.

Rejection of the settlement last year fed uncertainty over Sharper Image's liability exposure. That, in turn, caused vendors to tighten trade terms, the company said in court documents, contributing to Sharper Image's financial woes

[analystslie]

Sequiam is not a creditor to Sharper Image. Sequiam is a supplier much like hundred of other companies that more than likely not be treated as creditors.

Creditor status versus Supplier status are two different issues. Your numerous experiences should include comparisons concerning your experience in how suppliers versus creditors versus lease holders are handled in Chapeter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

To cut off the suppliers of products to Sharper Image would be the kiss of death if Sharper Image reorganizes. SHRP's bankrupty is only a bump in the road for Sequiam and other suppliers if not just a small pothole.