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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Ames Department Stores (AMES)

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To: Arthur Tang who wrote (1848)6/13/2001 9:29:20 AM
From: Art Baeckel  Read Replies (1) of 1911
 
This is a post from a long I follow on Raging Bull. Take it for what it's worth! ART

y: caretaker1 $$$
Reply To: None
Tuesday, 12 Jun 2001 at 9:01 PM EDT
Post # of 404

the free coffee and quiche were about the best things at the meeting today. It had a turnout of
about 75-100 people but a good 20-25 were either AMES management or folks from arthur
andersen's. My first time meeting Joe and Roland (more about Roland later) and Joe is a
positive "can do" speaker. Quick notes: "no one wants a turnaround more than me; value driven
shoppers hurt my added $20 per week in family gas tank;layoffs have people
spooked;weather,weather,weather;AMES stock is not for the skittish or faint at heart;" and on
the positve side: "management is dedicated;adjusted inventory showing in the bottom line; new
stores in the chicago area are hot,hot,hot; long term profitability will happen with an unshakable
plan of success; it happened once under Joe's guidance and it will happen again; niche market
is stong right for ames". Never said anything about bonds, only one question from the audience,
a no-brainer that got the company line. As I didn't see anything coming from addressing joe
himself I courted Roland after the meeting ended (a very impressive man) an asked him about
the Hills bonds/GE credit restrictions and vendors. He stated "I would love to buy back the
bonds but we have to maintain a 100 million credit/cash line and we don't wish to tie that up as
that will make our vendors nervous, but yes, financially I would buy them back .17cents to
.48cents in a New York Minute and we plan to but we need a quarter or two of good numbers so
as long as we buy them back before the due date 2003 for Hills and 2005 for AMES then its still
a plus for the company, he stated that for each .50 drop in fed rates AMES saves 5 million per
year"......As I left the building I wondered if they need that last 100 million so bad and can't part
with 25 million to save @75 million then is it that they are not looking for a long term savings but
rather for a "lets make it until xmas" kind of attitude. and that my fellow stockholders kind of
scares me. With hindsight I would have loved to ask Joe " why didn't you post a earnings
warnings back in Feb. for 2000 instead of releasing such terrible information upon the
stockholders?" ........I'm in for the long haul and hope the numbers change for the better but I
gotta admit my gut tells me they ain't gonna make it. Overall a disappointing shareholders
meeting stacked with "yes" clones........hope this helps and see you in the aisles, put this one
away till september...........
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