Status as of November 19, 1999
I have reviewed the 5th draft of the Form 10-SB, provided comments, and returned it to the lawyers. There are still a few information items to be detailed, and then they will file it. This probably won't happen until after the Thanksgiving holidays because of vacation schedules at the lawyers' office. This whole process is very expensive, in both time and money.
Some internal network changes we were making to improve our ability to service clients are almost complete. We were delayed for several days while one of the key participants made some major changes to their own network. We should be able to get everything up and running soon, and then we can unveil our new corporate web site.
Follow up continues on the leads from the Phoenix ITEC show. A lot of interest is being expressed in the CA product line. An onsite demo of their Help Desk application is scheduled for Tuesday to an interested prospect. Our Sales Division Manager, Joe Genovese, is helping out some disgruntled CA product owners who were not being serviced properly by their prior CA reseller. Our philosophy of providing outstanding service will hopefully convince those customers to do business with us in the future.
We have several prospects for purchase of the ISPW product from Benchmark Technologies. A major upgrade to ISPW is scheduled for the first quarter of 2000, and we plan on heavily promoting its new capabilities to our prospective buyers. The upgraded product is already in Beta test at a large European bank.
We are in preliminary discussions with another software and services vendor to authorize us to market and sell their offerings. This will expand our marketplace into another popular sector, and improve our ability to cross-sell our various product lines.
The final phase of a Web Services Division project for a commercial manufacturer was completed, and the client is very happy with it. We also completed a rush job for another client, and he has already given us an additional project. A multi-phase project for a health care provider is being negotiated, with expectations we will be successful in landing the deal.
We have entered into "lead sharing" arrangements with other E-Commerce related web services providers. This allows us to shop for the best solution for our clients who have specific web needs that Planet City cannot fulfill within the prospect's required time frame because of our work load or because of specific environmental or business expertise needs. Our lead sharing partners do the same for us. There is a tremendous amount of business opportunity in the E-Commerce area, and we intend that to be a large part of our future.
A Topology Systems, Inc. project that was scheduled to start in mid-November was postponed to early December because of the client's resource conflicts over the Thanksgiving Holiday. As soon as the proper paperwork is signed, a Press Release will be produced providing some financial details of the project. This should validate the interest we have in acquiring privately owned Topology. It will also pave the way for similar projects in the future. The Letter Of Intent to acquire Topology is still in effect, pending verification of certain financial information.
We have made no progress at all on two major foreign Y2K contracts we have been pursuing through third party firms. Our competitors at other Y2K services providers haven't landed those contracts, either. At this stage of the game, I think the prospects have realized they cannot become compliant in time, so they have decided to wait and see what happens after 12/31/99. This makes them prime prospects for our Topology Division early next year, as their set of tools and services are tuned to respond quickly to chaotic situations.
As a result of the efforts of SS PR, our Public Relations firm, I have participated in more live financial radio talk shows, and have been interviewed by correspondents from a few financial web sites and publications. The focus tends to be Y2K related, but I managed to get in a few choice comments about the rest of our company and its non-Y2K related future as well.
Speaking of Y2K, a marketing program for our Millennium Bug Compliance Kit (MBCK) will be begin shortly, just in time to take advantage of all those last-minute shoppers. A made-for-TV movie on the perils of Y2K will air soon that could provide a spark of interest to home based PC users and small businesses.
I am analyzing our potential involvement in a long term initiative where Planet City would cooperate in a joint venture with several other existing software and services vendors. The joint venture provides the ability to support many different needs a client might have, but that none of the individual vendors can provide by themselves. This concept has worked well in the past, but has some inherent operational challenges. Our involvement must be structured properly to make sure we maximize our Return On Investment.
The price of our stock has been slowly declining, causing investors to fear that our company is in trouble. We are at the "cross-over" point now where the prior work effort starts paying off. Keep in mind that we totally redefined the company back in May of '99 shortly after I came aboard. We changed our focus from short term Y2K efforts to long term post-Y2K survival, and have been working to restructure our company to meet the challenges of that long term focus. We just recently kicked off our non-Y2K sales program and are already beginning to recognize revenues. This reminds me of being on board a train that is stopped at a station and ready to leave for the next town. There is a tremendous amount of work that must be done to get those big wheels moving, but you can't tell from the outside all that is being done inside the locomotive to get them moving. Once the train starts to move, the results of the start up efforts can be seen as it chugs along gradually picking up speed. Planet City, like that train, is picking up speed.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Please take ample time to reflect on your many blessings, and consider sharing with those less fortunate.
A disclaimer statement follows my sign off.
Regards,
Terry E. Dennis, President & CEO
Planet City Corp (OTC BB: PINC)
Certain of the statements contained herein which are not historical facts are forward-looking statements with respect to events, the occurrence of which involve risks and uncertainties. Any such forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. In addition to the general difficulties inherent in forecasting future operating results, particularly in a rapidly changing global economy, other factors can affect performance. Those factors include, but are not limited to, competitive forces, fluctuations in operating results, reliance on industry standards, dependence on new products, risks associated with acquisitions, intellectual property protection and disputes, economic fluctuations, staff turnover, and naturally occurring phenomena. |
