FYI:
(COMTEX) B: ASHTON PARTNERS TAKES THE LEAD IN BRINGING INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS TO THE FOREFRONT OF INVESTOR COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCES NEW MICRO-CAP Investor Relations
Initiative
CHICAGO, Nov 2, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Ashton Partners, a
leading Investor Relations and Equity Risk Management Agency, today
announced that it will host the nation's first-ever Small-Cap Internet
Conference presented by an Investor Relations firm. On November 4,
1999, Ashton Partners and Vcall.com will sponsor a half-day of
presentations by management teams of five premier small-cap companies.
The first presentation will begin at 10 a.m. CST.
"Recognizing that technology has rapidly accelerated investors' demands
for information, Ashton Partners has created an innovative forum to
bring companies and investors together through the Internet," explained
Elizabeth Saunders, Principal of Ashton Partners. "While Ashton
Partners has worked diligently to provide its client base with the most
progressive concepts in Investor Relations, the company has also
provided a valuable service to investors seeking desirable investment
ideas."
"Investor Relations, like every other industry, has been greatly
affected by the advent of the Internet and continual advances in
technology. The Internet is quickly becoming the communication vehicle
of choice for business professionals and individuals from all parts of
the world and has made it necessary for publicly traded companies to
take their stories online."
"Ashton Partners has teamed with Vcall.com to create an event that we
believe will usher in a new era of Investor Relations standards,"
continued Saunders. "We anticipate that Internet presentations and
conferences will become the standard in the industry, delivering equal
access and opportunity to all investors: institutional and retail.
While individual company Internet presentations have become common,
having an IR consulting agency present a conference-like forum is the
next major advancement."
"We have assembled a sampling of our client base that represents
companies in the small-cap arena with a value orientation," stated
Saunders. "We feel each company has a solid investment story to
communicate to the investment community and will greatly benefit from
the amplified visibility. Each company is especially interested in
increasing retail and individual ownership in their stock and Ashton
believes it has discovered a key component to reaching this audience as
well as the institutional investor."
Beginning at 10 a.m. CST on Thursday, November 4, 1999, Vcall.com will
air five consecutive presentations, including an Interactive question
and answer session immediately following each presentation. Each
management team will be available to answer questions that can be
emailed directly to the company. The companies that will be presenting
at the times noted include:
-- 10 a.m. CST - Syntel, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYNT), provides innovative
information technology (IT) solutions such as e-business, web
development solutions and data warehousing to Fortune 500 companies
such as AIG, Dayton Hudson, Ford Motor Co., and Borders, as well as
government organizations.
-- 11 a.m. CST - Prism Financial Corporation (Nasdaq: PRFN), a national
retail mortgage banking company and leading online mortgage originator.
Since it was founded in 1992, it has been the fastest growing mortgage
originator in the nation.
-- 12 noon CST - Clark/Bardes Holding Inc. (Nasdaq: CLKB), designs,
markets and administers insurance-financed employee benefit programs to
large corporations and banks in the U.S.
-- 1 p.m. CST - First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR), one of the
nation's largest providers of industrial real estate, owns, operates
and manages 74 million square feet of industrial facilities.
-- 2 p.m. CST - Grubb & Ellis Co. (NYSE: GBE) provides transaction
services and property and facilities management services to real estate
owners/investors and tenants; and financial advisory services and
consulting and strategic services with respect to commercial real
estate.
A short pre-registration process will be required to gain access to the
presentations at the vcall.com web site. During the presentations,
participants will be able to e-mail their questions to management to
create a fully interactive experience. This forum is meant to simulate
a brokerage conference, but allows free access for all investors.
New Micro-Cap Program In conjunction with the Internet conference,
Ashton Partners also announced it has created a specialized Investor
Relations program for companies with market capitalizations between $40
million and $250 million. While continuing to provide the highest level
of quantitative message development and targeting to its clients,
Ashton Partners has developed an unrivaled program that focuses on the
unique needs of micro-cap companies.
"We understand that the management of a micro-cap company faces
distinct challenges in attracting the attention of the investment
community since micro-cap companies aren't readily visible to
mainstream institutional investors," commented John Kroen, Director of
Micro-Cap Strategies at Ashton Partners. "Many times when an agency
attempts to implement a traditional investor relations program, it
often leads to disappointing results for the micro-cap company.
"To be fairly valued, micro-cap companies must draw interest from a
diverse audience. To generate this expanded interest, it's important to
reach all types of investors and utilize state-of-the-art communication
methods, such as the Internet. Our new micro-cap program can help
companies achieve these critical goals," concluded Kroen.
For information regarding Ashton's Investor Relations services please
contact Cindy Klimstra of Ashton Partners' Sales and Marketing
Department at 312-587-0780 ext. 287.
About Ashton Partners Ashton Partners provides strategic consulting,
corporate positioning, and market intelligence services based on
proprietary, quantitative models to clients in a variety of industries.
The core competencies -- predictive modeling, financial analysis, and
outstanding relationships with the Street -- give senior executives
critical insights into why their stock price moves the way it does. In
today's turbulent markets, Ashton Partners can help companies better
understand their ownership trends, trading patterns, and relative
valuations, as well as assess the impact of corporate actions on these
factors.
SOURCE Ashton Partners, LLC
(C) 1999 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
prnewswire.com
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CONTACT: Elizabeth Saunders, Principal, ext. 281, e-mail,
esaunders@ashtonpartners.com, or John Kroen, Director of
Micro-Cap Strategies,
ext. 285, e-mail, jkroen@ashtonpartners.com, both of Ashton
Partners, LLC,
312-587-0780, fax, 312-587-0784
GEOGRAPHY: Illinois
INDUSTRY CODE: CPR
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