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(250) 319-9765. We look forward to your comments, questions, and feedback.
****************
WestBond Enterprises (WBE-TSX Venture)
Current Price: $0.14
WestBond recently released its results for the year ended March 31, 2002.
As expected, earnings were well short of the prior year due to the loss of
the Air Canada contract, but the company was able to stay profitable - a
significant achievement given the factors WestBond experienced. The
president of WestBond also had some very encouraging comments for investors
and shareholders looking forward. Below are his comments:
"This year brought about many significant market changes for WestBond. It
was well known that the airline industry was very depressed because of the
uncertain global political climate. Total revenues for this year were
slightly less than last year's due to the loss of sales to the airline
industry. the company experienced losses of sales in this area, but was
able to increase its clinical and long-term care market sales which helped
to maintain the profitability for the year. Fortunately, markets have now
stabilized and business has started to increase significantly.
Steps were already in place last year to diversify West Bond's product line
to take the company to higher sales and performance levels and avoid the
dependency on specialized market segments. Equipment was purchased which is
designed to produce personal hygiene products such as hand towels and
bathroom tissue. I am pleased to report that the equipment purchase last
year is now fully operational and yielding sales which are soon expected to
surpass the company's health care sales.
In addition to the above mentioned equipment, West Bond has implemented a
second expansion program which will be complete by the fall of 2002 and
increase the production capacity to 600,000 cases of product annually. The
company's sales volume is now only 85,000 cases of product per year. This
expansion is key to the future of WestBond. A major U.S. paper converter
has ceased operation which has left a huge void in the supply of products to
the industrial market. WestBond is now ready to fill this void as the
company is strategically situated from a logistical and efficiency
standpoint.
Sales in the new personal hygiene market are now producing results which are
already showing dramatic increases compared to last year. The net profit
for the first two months of the new fiscal year has almost reached the net
profit for the entire year reflected in the 2002 annual report.
Westbond will soon have over $600,000 in new capital expansion. This has
come from our investments made during 2001 and 2002 and from the investment
arranged for the rest of 2002. As a result, sales and profit levels are
expected to increase in the future. The company is targeting sales from the
coming year of $4 million, which would yield an after tax return of $0.03 to
$0.04 per share. This is a breakthrough period for the company and
shareholders should be very excited about our upcoming performance in the
new product categories as well as continued growth in the existing health
care market."
WestBond's three product groups; personal hygiene products, clinical
products, and long-term products, represent the company's ability to adapt
to market demands and develop product lines to satisfy these markets. The
company will soon have the capacity to produce over 600,000 cases annually.
This capacity can be increased with scheduling flexibility to achieve even
higher volumes. Annually, this capacity represents over $20 million in
sales.
QIS CAPITAL COMMENTS
QIS Capital has been telling investors for months that fiscal 2002 results
were not expected to be stellar. We have also been advocating that results
for this fiscal year are expected to be exceptional. The beginning of this
record growth phase should be signaled in the next few weeks with the
release of first quarter results ended June 30, 2002. In addition to the
upcoming numbers, we are even more encouraged by the company's current
operations which continue to show impressive growth on a month-over-month
basis. Westbond is already well on its way to achieving its projected sales
of $4 million and EPS of $0.03 to $0.04. These estimates could prove to be
conservative as new orders are received and as WestBond commences operations
from several new machines over the coming months.
A complete copy of Westbond's annual report is now available on
www.sedar.com. If you would like to receive a hard copy, please send us
your name and address by email as we will get one to you as soon as they are
printed. |
