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Replies to post #23371 on CurAegis Technologies Inc (fka CRGS)
Jan 2008 Shareholder Meeting Report
The exact text of the formal presentation from last night’s Shareholder Meeting will be a matter of record in the days ahead. I’ll post my impressions as I trust other attendees will as well.
Being a ‘glass half full’ kind of guy, I’ll start with the positives.
1. The Format of the meeting was interesting and in some ways, very illustrative of where Torvec sits today. After the formalities of Gary and Dobbs going thru Safe Harbour statements and proxy results, the format was essentially that Jim would address the Sales and Marketing overview/announcements related to one of the Torvec technologies and then Keith would take the microphone with a technology primer about the challenges faced and overcome, and the engineering perspective on that product. Overall it worked as a format: organized, logical, slow paced at times but Jim explained that was because they didn’t want to overwhelm shareholders. They didn’t.
2. There is forward progress with Ford on the FTV and with GM on Iso-Torque. As Jim repeated in order to emphasize the point and help shareholders ‘read between the lines’, talks about one Torvec technology invariably turn into talks about all Torvec products. So one is lead to believe then that Ford discussions are expected to expand beyond the FTV to IVT and Iso-Torque, and that GM discussions are expected to expand beyond Iso-Torque, and the Lockheed discussions are expected to expand beyond CVJ - the military application of the FTV has to be in their sites, I would think.
3. There was an open admission of the “Unrealized Expectations” that included the NYS School Bus program, negotiations with the Chinese and the City of Chicago Green initiative. The Chicago setback was attributed to budget constraints and a skepticism that any Torvec technology sent to Chicago would somehow end up in Shanghai, Chicago’s Sister-City—as if the Mayor of Chicago would be conspiring with the Chinese against his own country. So this part of the meeting was liberating. Admitting the failure of past strategies, for what ever reason, is therapeutic and goes to previous posts regarding CEO honesty. I thought Jim was also brutaly honest with his frustrations of dealing with the Communist Chinese.
4. New patents have been filed for some of Torvec’s. A new steer-drive patent for the FTV has been filed as has a new track design for that vehicle.
Now the rest of the glass:
1. The company’s time frame for commercialization of its technologies was summarized by a favorite expression of Vernon Gleasman’s: “The longer you don’t, the sooner you’re gonna.”While humorous, it does indeed stipulate the companies time frame: they don’t have one. It’s serendipity. It’s the antithesis of bold engineering meets bold marketing. It’s “don’t shake the boat.” It’s “we’ll play by their rules”. It’s “eventually they will come around and when they do, we’ll be here.” And yet we were reassured during Q&A, that everything was “on schedule”. Really!? What’s that schedule? That we’ll realize “substantial earnings in the not-too-distant future.” Whenever that is. 2008? 2010? No position was taken. No firm forecast was articulated. That the company is “laying out the business foundation and how to accomplish that goal” (of rolling out the Iso-Torque possibly across all GM lines).
2. In Introducing the Ford FTV “project” or interest, it was stated that the Full Terrain Vehicle had (yet again) been renamed the “Ford Tracked Vehicle”. It turned out that statement was poetic license but it obviously confused some shareholders, including myself, who understood that statement to mean that Ford had agreed to this new trademark. It was later clarified as not being the case. The statement was meant to show that ‘things are going really well in our discussions with Ford’.
3. There were numerous ‘dead spots’ in the presentation. A video about the Nissan race teams on the track with Iso-Torque was paired with driving musical rhythms. That worked well and looked professionally produced. The video of the NASA “Chariot” before and after the incorporation of the Torvec IVT’s was dead silent. It would have benefited by some theater, a little light humorous background music when showing the previous 2 speed configuration vs the new fluid Torvec motion. And the “tour” of the new facility was as pathetically dry as a home movies. Three digital photos of the waiting room. Four photos of conference room. The kitchenette area, Hallways. Empty desks and offices.
4. “We’re really quite busy” was repeated stated during the evening. The “End Game” was referenced several times although no clear definition of ‘the end game’ or a time frame associated with it was made. A vague reference to selling (auctioning) off technologies was made with the position stated that such an event would be perceived by Big Auto as an act of “desperation”. That didn’t jive with the fact that minutes before both a broker/shareholder and the company executives themselves proudly boasted the company to be debt free and able to weather any storm or delays. It still seems to me that the only “desperation” in any bidding war would be among the bidders desperate to lock in on Torvec’s technology. It’s almost as if the company lacks faith in its products to actually be bid up in a winner takes all bidding war for CVJ and Iso-Torque.
5. Toward the end, two “Significant Events” were presented to shareholders: New CAFÉ standards, which the company has been touting for years now as a factor which would drive Detroit to Torvec’s front door, and the Hillary effect. She’s the company’s new spokesperson, working behind the scenes and “going to bat for Torvec”. Funny that as our State Senator she apparently couldn’t resuscitate the NYS School Bus program. I guess if she becomes President Hillary, we’d be in sitting pretty.
Someone posted here last night that a Yahoo poster had called the meeting Same “Stuff”; Different Day (SSDD). I’d have to agree with that. It was just like every other Torvec Annual Shareholder Meeting of the past 12 years. There was no true sense of excitement among either management or shareholders. There was no sense that success was imminent. It was more of an engineering review than a pep rally.
The products and the technology are world class. Bold engineer has not been paired with bold marketing. It’s like watching paint dry. I would guess today's stock movement will reflect the meeting. Success will come but no one in management will offer a projection when that might occur. Patience....pateince....and more patience.
AI
