I believe Tom is doing everything in his power to move this company forward.... and part of me believes he may or could have been advised by counsel to not communicate directly with shareholders...or he has signed a confidential disclosure agreement with another party prohibiting communication directly with shareholders. We've observed that Tom doesn't have a problem communicating with shareholders via phone/email in the past; however, at this moment in time it may not be in his best interest.
I must say, his last shareholder letter was the best I've read to date.
Seaway Valley Capital Corporation Releases Update Tuesday April 29, 10:01 am ET
GOUVERNEUR, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seaway Valley Capital Corporation (OTCBB:SWVC - News) (“Seaway Valley”) chairman and chief executive officer, Thomas W. Scozzafava, issued the following update to its shareholders today: Dear Shareholders:
I am pleased to give the following update of the Company. To first review, Seaway Valley has accomplished the following major milestones:
-On July 1, 2007, Seaway Capital, Inc. acquired a controlling stake in the Company, which immediately began managing the Seaway Valley Fund, LLC. As part of the acquisition of the Company, Seaway agreed to assume certain legacy debt obligations of “GS Carbon Corporation,” which are now fully satisfied.
-In October 2007, Seaway Valley acquired one hundred percent of WiseBuys Stores, Inc. in a stock merger transaction with a total enterprise value of approximately $6.5 million. The WiseBuys acquisition brought into Seaway Valley five retail locations totaling 230,000 square feet of retail space and key industry relationships with Payless ShoeSource, RadioShack, and KB Toys.
-In November 2007, Seaway Valley acquired one hundred percent of Patrick Hackett Hardware Company in a transaction valued at $10.2 million and subsequently merged the WiseBuys operation into Hackett’s, creating a nine store chain with assets of upwards of $18 million and pro forma revenues of $30-$35 million. Since acquiring Hackett’s, Seaway Valley has reduced Hackett’s debt by approximately $3.9 million.
-In March 2008, Seaway Valley assisted Hackett’s in securing a $5 million inventory based line of credit from Wells Fargo.
-In April 2008, Seaway merged North Country Hospitality, Inc. into a wholly owned subsidiary in an all stock transaction valued at $11.7 million, bringing to Seaway Valley additional assets of approximately $13 million and pro forma revenues of approximately $6 million.
Seaway Valley has, in fairly short order, acquired current assets totaling approximately $30 million and has current projected pro forma annualized revenues of $36 - $40 million based on North Country projected revenues and Hackett’s annualized revenues once all former WiseBuys stores are converted and operate for a full year. Below is a comparison of select reported financial data of the Company as of December 31, 2007 and June 30, 2007, prior to current management involvement:
As management continues the task of integrating its two core holdings into the Company and, to a certain extent, into each other, it will also continue to focus on driving the companies’ respective growth.
Hackett’s
While Hackett’s primary focus is integrating and converting the WiseBuys stores, management shall aggressively seek select opportunities for new store development. Hackett’s is targeting new locations with demographics or shopping patterns that are consistent with Hackett’s premium branded products and excellent customer service. Hackett’s flexible store footprints of as small as 15,000 square feet and as much as 55,000 square feet allow the company to consider a much larger pool of potential new sites than the typical retailer. Management expects to secure at least one and possibly two new locations this year. Management will also continue to pursue acquisitions of select retailers in and around existing Hackett’s stores if management feels the target’s operations can be seamlessly integrated into those of Hackett’s. Hackett’s recently acquired the Hamilton, NY RadioShack, is in talks with two other RadioShack owners, and is in discussions with at least three other various retailers for possible acquisition or investment. As stated by management previously, Hackett’s initial targeted growth milestone is twenty five to thirty stores with aggregate revenues of up to $100 million.
North Country Hospitality, Inc.
North Country has a number of fronts on which to drive the company’s revenue growth and profitability. Alteri’s Bakery currently has excess production capacity that would enable it to roughly double its current sales. Securing new commercial contracts to drive production while also promoting its higher margin specialty products will be the focus of management over the coming months. As the owner of five Jreck Subs franchises, North Country shall seek to develop or acquire regionally clustered locations of four or five outlets per group where annual sales potential is between $500,000 and $1,000,000 per store. Management is currently in discussions with various parties for potential development of its most popular proprietary restaurant concepts, Goodfello’s Brick Oven Pizza and Wine Bar and The 1812 Brewpub. The concepts can be co-located or rolled out separately, depending on the market of the target area. Finally, marketing the beer portfolio of the Sackets Harbor Brewing Company represents a significant growth opportunity. As the products approach their market potential locally, the company will now begin to aggressively promote the beer brands beyond the region and in select markets nationally. North Country originally targeted revenue growth to $30 million on an asset base of $40 million by 2010.
Additional Acquisitions
Seaway Valley will also continue to evaluate other acquisitions and investments in industries outside the retail, hospitality, and consumer products industry.
Shareholder Value
Management is concerned with and focused on increasing shareholder value. The first and requisite step to achieve increased shareholder value at Seaway Valley is to first acquire or internally develop assets that have or that can create value faster than and beyond the costs associated with their acquisition, development, and growth. Management believes Seaway Valley’s first two platform acquisitions have provided just that. As the holdings generate a history of performance, Seaway Valley can utilize lower cost sources of capital versus those used by Seaway Valley (and its predecessors) to date. The successful closing of the Wells Fargo line of credit is one example of that. And as these core holdings mature and the capital generated is in excess of what is needed to sustain growth, that excess capital can be used for such activities as convertible debenture repayments, preferred stock repayments, and/or common stock re-purchases. Once the underlying business conditions permit that, management is committed to such a plan.
ALL POSTED BY AMERICAN_PSYCHO IS EITHER FACT OR OPINION.
Market Data 
Markets 
