Morning Mike,
It is my understanding that they may be off the Pink Sheets by mid August. Now I really can't say this with any authority, however I believe that the company has made real progress in this area.
About the Pink Sheets, I am re-posting my response to this question from Raging Bull . . .
I am not as hard on this company regarding this issue as some others seem to be.
I know that their Investment Relations person is not working alone on this. He is just one member of a team. I believe he is doing whatever he can to keep ahead of the waves that have caught them off guard and he is trying hard to get the process behind them so they can continue to move forward. I talk to many other investors in this company who credit their sticking with them to his efforts to keep them abreast of their progress. I have faith in him, and I appreciate what he is doing for us.
Now with that said, I believe that a large part of this Pink sheet problem had to do with the very poor communication effort that the SEC provided to these companies. From what I understand, the section (couple of lines of text) that caught everyone off guard was buried deep within an inch thick amount of related documentation.
As to who should have caught this, well in my opinion, their lawyer - who has been paid to assist the company with their filing - should bear part of the responsibility for not finding, and/or understanding, the ramifications of the comments period. Their accounting firm (because of holidays) could also be taken to task for not busting their tails to get the approved financial statements back to the company etc., etc..
Throw in a new CFO who was trying desperately to get their accounting processes in line early in the year, while at the same time as having to provide financial data for the SEC filing, and you can see where things could have been missed. By the way, I understand that the accounting systems are running smoothly now.
Yes, their IR guy could have/should have spotted it too. But, because of what I have outlined above, I really do understand how this could have slipped by. Now I see this as just a small set back and not a body blow to them. You can bet your last dollar that I would have really been upset if this had been a much bigger issue.
I also believe that the SEC probably wanted to ensure that they got everyone's attention on their efforts to clean up the markets. So from their perspective (by not emphasizing the required timelines a bit clearer) I can see how by making a few firms jump through the hoops regarding this process, and having then having this issue featured in the Wall Street Journal, it would have given the SEC some pretty high visibility and PR which would be very good for their image, and efforts to clean up the exchanges. Short term pain for a few firms v.s. long term SEC credibility and all that.
If pushed, (and if it were indeed true) I would have to say that I would have supported the SEC's approach to getting attention focused on these efforts. It is just that why the heck did they have to start with an alphabetical list of companies.
Now, all that said, the next group of companies will have no excuse for not knowing what this is all about. ASI just caught the first bullet.
ASI has retained an experienced PR firm (Cookson), and once this issue is resolved, I want to see these folks earn their money. There is a great story here, and it is their job to get out and promote the company.
Now I also understand that it is not always easy for Cookson or ASI's Investor's Relations guy to promote all the good things that ASI is doing. This is because ASI is often ham-strung in their efforts to release information on new contracts that they have signed. It appears that some of their customers (for their own good reasons I'm sure) do not want a Press Release announced about their contract.
I can see how the company is thrilled to get these contracts, but frustrated to the extreme in not being able to get the message out. I guess we will have to rely on the financial results to see how well they are doing.
For the record, I also want to remind everyone that I have often said that even though the 2nd quarter results should be good - it is the 3rd quarter results that will be the ones that will launch them to the next level. By this I mean that the big firms often want to see a sustained trending of Q to Q growth. ASI's 3rd Q should be really good! I feel that this will be true, because this is when I expect to see the start of any data capture revenues on top of their very good Time and Attendance revenues. They are soon going to have the results to prove to the big boys/girls that they are credible and are growing strongly. Now this is something that most of us know already, and I think we will have a short window of opportunity to buy more shares before the big boys wake up and start their buying in earnest.
I am confident that the Pink Sheets issue will very soon be behind them. Once this happens then we all can continue to move forward from here.
I promise you that I do not lose any sleep over my investment in this company, and I still hold to my belief that we will see significant triple digit percentage returns by year end.
Crazy Canuk
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