I went to the shareholders meeting today. The normal motions made and carried. Almost all of the 132 shareholders seemed to be in attendance, and a good looking bunch of people. Bagels and sweet rolls were served along with coffee and orange juice. The new pres and COO was introduced (David Asher), he talked about his background and specifically mentioned that he thought a strong point he would be bringing to BYDS is his common sense as well as an "understanding of shareholder value." I was dutifully impressed with him as well as with Rex Ours, the CFO. Lisa was charming "and goodlooking."
Boyd mentioned they have hired an international rep to work Mexico and South America. They are contiuning their efforts "east" of the Mississippi. They have identified the total market for wheels to be around 750-800 million and say they are only now getting about 3% of that market. Sales increase is a high priority, especially now that they feel they have corrected the production problems that plagued them last year. They only had one furnace and pushed it beyond it's capacity and turned out poor quality materials, which cost them and the ex-coo his job. The new furnace is in place and production capacity is now able to meet sales projections without a problem. The Q.C. procedures now include an x-ray to check for porosity as well as a new spectral-analysis tensile strength tester. They are considering an MRI so as to locate any defect within exactly, since the x-ray does not indicate depth.
About 20% of shares are held by institutions.
Most impressive to me were the hot rods. The meeting was held in the hot rod shop and we were surrounded by some very cool machines in various states of completion. They build between 9-13 a year that sell for 200,000 to 300,000 each. Maybe Patrick could buy the thread one to tool around in. The bass player for Bon Jovi (Michael Anthony) is having a '40 Ford redone now. It's his 2nd or 3rd car Boyd has done for him.
General mood of investors present was wanting to get the scoop on earnings, but of course, that was not forthcoming. Lisa said that they are getting together with the analysts soon and projections would be out then.
To sum up: The company grew too fast for production and they had to back off until they got the production right. That is now in place and they are going after the sales on an international level as well as expanding eastward. The new COO insures that production/quality will meet the new sales to come. "Andrew, order your shirt." Maybe you should get an order form in the mail so you can tell me which one you want. The "Smoothster" looks cool. |
