PCBM news - investors request shares in certificate form
AMARILLO, TX, Sep 07, 2000 (INTERNET WIRE via COMTEX) -- A group of 363
individual shareholders of Pinnacle Business Management Systems [OTCBB: PCBM],
organized as the PCBM Shareholder's Group, has completed their effort to request
all of the "float" shares into certificate form, according to Jeff Andle,
spokesperson for the group. "Mr. Andle's statement is based on the collective
reporting of the group of shareholders and the best available estimates of the
available free-trading shares, as well as certificate requests of 10.5 million
shares by a single investment fund anchoring the effort," said Bill Kinkead,
legal counsel for the group.
"One has to assume that based on SEC filings and other public documents that
there are 29.5 million free trading shares in circulation," said Andle. An
additional 11.6 million shares are believed to be frozen in certificate form;
these additional shares being associated with the retirement of 105 million
shares discussed in PCBM's press release dated July 21,
www.pcbm.com/press/000721.html, and Gordon and Associate's press release on the
same date, www.pcbm.com/press/000721b.html).
Further to this effort, individuals within the PCBM Shareholder's Group have
collectively requested certificates on at least 6 million additional shares that
are expected to be undeliverable by brokers and clearinghouses. The resultant
"paper call", according to Kinkead, is expected to have dramatic consequences on
several broker-dealers and market makers that are believed to have enacted
trades in which their clients sold the stock short. Additional certificate
requests are anticipated by members of the PCBM Shareholder's Group, above and
beyond those reported in this release. "Litigation may eventually be necessary
to preserve the rights of several thousand shareholders of PCBM who are unable
to obtain certificates for their shares," said Kinkead.
This action was taken by the Shareholder's Group in response to a perceived
short position of at least 40 million shares. Initially, starting June 19, 2000,
the shareholders attempted to "buy up" the float; the effort met with increased
selling pressure. "In conjunction with this effort, the company asserts that it
has not increased the number of free trading stock certificates, which leads the
shareholders to assert that short selling is still occurring," said Andle.
As a result, the Shareholder's Group determined that the removal of shares into
certificate form would be necessary in order to stop the short-selling. Today's
announcement culminates a two-month effort by a loosely confederated group of
over 200 individual shareholders in the US and Canada and another 163 individual
shareholders in Belgium.
Shareholders within the Group contend that they collectively own over 82 million
shares while the company states that only 42 million free trading shares exist.
The effort to request all of the company's stock into certificate form was
severely hampered by two factors. (1) The Belgian shareholders claim over 16
million shares; however they uniformly report that obtaining certificate form
paper on US stocks is difficult.
(2) More serious are the strict constraints associated with IRA accounts.
Demands for certificates from IRA's are treated as a premature withdrawal and
are potentially subject to strict tax consequences if not returned within 60
days. "This effort has indicated that shares held in IRA's are unwittingly
offering a "safe haven" of almost untouchable stock in "street name" against
which market makers and large institutions can sell short," said Kinkead.
According to Andle, this is one of many stocks on the OTC bulletin boards that
is facing heavy short selling and the efforts by the PCBM Shareholder's Group
prompted similar efforts at Finder's Keepers [OTCBB: FDKP], Titan [NYSE: TTN],
and may be expected to generate similar efforts in other stocks suffering from
perceived shorting.
About Kinkead Law Offices and the 363 member PCBM Shareholder's Group:
Kinkead Law Offices is located at 6937 S. Bell, Suite G, Amarillo, TX 79109.
Bill Kinkead, managing attorney of the firm, may be contacted by mail at that
address and by email at bkinkead@cincadi.com. The Firm maintains a website at
www.billkinkead.com/pcbm to provide information and a forum for the 363 member
PCBM Shareholder's Group and other PCBM shareholders worldwide. Telephone
inquiries should be directed to (806) 353-2129.
Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements:
Except for historical information contained herein statements in this press
release are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause
the company's actual results in the future periods to differ materially from the
forecasted results. These risks and uncertainties, include, among other things,
product price volatility, product demand, market competition, risk inherent in
the company's domestic and international operations, imprecision in estimating
product reserves and the company's ability to replace and expand it's holdings.
This press release is based on the best available data and is subject to
potential errors of reporting or counting.
CONTACT: Bill Kinkead
Kinkead Law Offices
806-353-2129 |
