Last year, I had a rather amusing telephone conversation with Albert Au, who was serving as president of a Nevada-registered company called K-9 Concepts Ltd.
Why it was called "K-9 Concepts" I'm not sure, because the company's business plan had nothing to do with dogs.
The plan was to sell "Vitamin C showerheads and related accessories" in Canada and the United States. The showerhead was said to contain a small canister that released a Vitamin C solution during operation, neutralizing chlorine and chloramines in the water.
As a prelude to going public on the dreadful OTC Bulletin Board in the United States, the company filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Financial statements audited by Dale Matheson Carr-Hilton Labonte (a Vancouver chartered accounting firm which has an affinity for these sorts of deals) showed the company had no operating history and total assets of only $17,000, nearly all of it cash raised from the sale of seed shares.
In my view, this company was not serious about developing a business. More likely it was being set up as shell company for a yet-to-be-determined stock promotion. When I called Au, he assured me he was serious about marketing the Vitamin C showerhead. I had trouble keeping a straight face.
Sure enough, within a few months, the company announced it would stop trying to sell Vitamin C showerheads and merge with a private company called Aussie Soles Group Inc. that sells a variation of Crocs footwear. Au resigned as president and director and was replaced by Craig Taplin, the founder and CEO of Aussie Soles.
Taplin quickly rounded up some local sponsorship, including the B.C. Lions. "Aussie Soles will be positioned as one of our premier partners in 2008," Lions president and CEO Bob Ackles is quoted as saying in an April 16 company release.
Offensive lineman Angus Reid and star receivers Geroy Simon and Paris Jackson are also endorsing the product: "Never before have my feet felt better after a long day on the field than since I started slipping them in my Aussie Soles," Reid is quoted as saying in an April 30 release.
All of this promotion has had a levitating effect on the stock. It has risen from $1.28 in January to $2.28 on Thursday. Volume has been very robust, about a half-million shares every day for the past six trading days.
Whether it's an earnest business endeavour remains to be seen, but at least there's no Vitamin C in the shoes.
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