Status as of 12/29/1999:
As reported in my status report of 6/17/1999, "We have started preparing the information for filing our Form 10 Registration to become a Fully Reporting company. This filing process might take months to complete."
At that time, I didn't realize how accurate my statement would prove to be. The collecting and organizing of the required data has proven to be an extremely exasperating experience. One of the major problems was that much of the data needed for the Form 10-SB was historical in nature. While historical financial transaction information was available to some degree from various locations, the underlying details of some of those transactions were difficult to find, resurrect, rationalize, and document to the level required by the SEC. Much of that historical data has no bearing on Planet City as it exists today, because the company was redefined in May of '99.
Compounding the data gathering problem was the switch to what I hoped would be a more responsive accounting firm. The switch of accounting firms included switching to an interim accountant last Spring until a new permanent firm could be retained, and then transferring all data to the permanent firm.
Resolution of all the above issues (and more), and the ongoing time consuming point clarification process between the lawyers, accountants, current management, and former key personnel … combined with the legal and operational activities associated with the acquisition of Topology Systems, Inc. … and negotiating for the sale of the Internet Casino … and researching and negotiating additional alliances … all the while trying to grow our company's business in our existing startup divisions (Web Services, Software Services, and Sales) to meet our short term cash flow needs … and dealing with another transaction that has not been made public yet … made for a very active few months that stretched our small staff's capabilities beyond our limits.
I've had this "recent events" status report ready to release for about 3 weeks, waiting for the final notification from the lawyers that the Form 10-SB had been filed. However, we are still waiting for the auditors to sign off on the financials from one of our subsidiaries. Until that happens, the Form 10 can't be filed by the lawyers. The auditors have requested additional clarification on some historical data from the subsidiary, which is no longer active. Everything else is ready to go, and has been for quite a while. In fact, the lawyers were making preparations to file during the week following Thanksgiving. Since both the lawyers and auditors closed their offices between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day, the filing probably won't happen until at least the week of January 10th. This is much later than I originally projected.
The review cycle for this Form is painful. Each review of changes and clarifications to the data leads to even more questions from the lawyers, corrections and/or additional information from the accountants, auditors, and other input providers, and another round of extended telephone tag and phone conversations between all the key players, all of whom have other priorities to attend to. Conflicting details had to be straightened out and documented. As I said earlier, a truly exasperating experience. This is certainly NOT just a "fill out the form" process, as a shareholder suggested to me several months ago.
It's no wonder so many small companies fail to file on time. Some don't even bother filing at all! The personnel and financial resource requirements for this initial filing are huge, and most small companies don't have the manpower or requisite expertise in house.
The good part about all of this is that the historical chronology of events will only need to be documented once, so future iterations of SEC filings should be much easier and quicker. The bad part about it is that this initial filing took MUCH longer than I anticipated, and it ate up far more time and energy (and cost!) than was expected. The deadline for OTC:BB eligibility determination for PINC is March 8, 2000. If this filing doesn't get done on time to meet that deadline, it certainly won't be for lack of trying.
The good news is that Planet City's business is building. Our Planet City Software, Inc. (PCSI) subsidiary is close to breakeven, and should be profitable in the first quarter of 2000.
PCSI's Web Services Division is already profitable, with return clients and satisfied client referrals continuing to keep us busy.
PCSI's Software Sales Division progress (SSD), however, has been impeded by the Y2K lock down in effect for many companies that are waiting to see what impact the Year 2000 will have before they commit to purchasing new software. The SSD sales pipeline is larger than ever, though, and we should be able to close several software sales in the first quarter of 2000. Projections indicate that the SSD should become profitable in February.
Finally, PCSI's newly acquired Topology Division, which focuses on servicing mainframe customers, has several potential large projects pending. Verbal approval has been given on one of them, and we are on "standby" status on another one. I'm very disappointed that these two projects have been delayed by the government agencies involved. Government projects are lucrative, but it sure takes a long time to get beyond the bureaucratic delays. Depending on the start date of these two projects, the Topology Division should become profitable in February or March. Topology also has a couple of large non-government projects in the pipeline which are projected to start in late 1st quarter or early 2nd quarter.
For those of you who still haven't downloaded and purchased our Millennium Bug Compliance Kit, there's still time to test your PC system for Y2K exposure, and repair it if it's not compliant. Remember, the Year 2000 problem is much more than just a hardware problem! It impacts application software and user data files, too. Go to mbck.com . If you delay buying the product until after the first of the year, you can still use it to reduce your Y2K exposure. It won't fix any of your data that has been corrupted, but it can keep further corruption from occurring. Note that, in addition to other kudos received for the MBCK, it recently received a Five Star rating from ZDNet. See the following link:
hotfiles.zdnet.com
Thank you for your support of our company during this redefinition and rebuilding period. Your patience should soon be rewarded, as the stage is set for a profitable new year.
Happy Holidays to all, from the staff and management of Planet City Corp.
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. |
