Aludra makes changes to its board and senior management
Aludra Inc YAD
Shares issued 10,380,000 Sep 19 2001 close $.250
Thursday Feb 21 2002 News Release
Mr. Aldo Raiocehi reports
ALUDRA ANNOUNCES PROPOSED MAJOR CORPORATE CHANGES
Aludra has released the details of the following proposed major changes in its board, senior management, business focus and financial structure.
Board of directors
Aldo Baiocchi and Raymond Rabbani will be resigning from Aludra's board of directors. Argirios Dimacopoulos resigned on Dec. 1, 2001. They will be replaced by Harold Albrecht, Neil Douek and Bonnie Kuhn. Mr. Albrecht will be elected chairman.
Mr. Albrecht, BComm, CA, of Oakville, Ont., has served in senior financial positions with two private entrepreneurial corporate groups and has founded or co-founded a number of start-up companies, one of which, Pinnacle Resources, was subject to a $1-billion takeover in 1998. Among other achievements, he signed the NHL franchise agreement on behalf of the Edmonton Oilers and has received a number of U.S. patents for new products he has developed. Mr. Albrecht has public practice experience with both PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG.
Mr. Douek, of Nassau, Bahamas, is currently the managing partner of DKP Capital Management Inc. He previously held the position of vice-president and director of Stanford Securities Corp., a limited market dealer in Toronto. Mr. Douek has acted as a consultant to Telezone Corp. and Weniwen Technologies Ltd. (Hong Kong), as well as being an officer of American Express Bank, New York. Past and current board of director memberships include DKP Capital Management Inc., Stanford Securities Corp., CITCO (Canada), Inc., PEG 97 Management Corp., Thales Fund Management Inc., Northern Star Fund Management Inc. and other private companies. Mr. Douek attended McGill University.
Ms. Kuhn, of Calgary, Alta., is a lawyer with Field Atkinson Perraton LLP since June, 2001. Prior thereto, she was a solicitor with the firm of Armstrong, Perkins Hudson (previously Ogilvie and Co., Barristers and Solicitors, Calgary, Alta.), from 1994 to 2001 and a partner since 1999. She is a member of the Law Society of Alberta and the Canadian Bar Association. Ms. Kuhn currently practises law in the area of natural resources, corporate, commercial and securities laws. Ms. Kuhn is also a director, chief financial officer and secretary of Minera Andes Inc., a mineral exploration company. As well she is a director of Tajzha Ventures Ltd., an oil and gas exploration company. She attended the University of Manitoba.
Senior management
Mr. Albrecht will be appointed chief executive officer and president by the board. He is currently a consultant to the corporation and has been instrumental in changing its strategy from being a very broad-based digital services provider to focusing the corporation's efforts exclusively on providing retail technology solutions.
Cliff Jones will be appointed chief operating officer. He was previously the president of Sweda Canada Inc., a private company that is the largest point-of-sale dealer within the grocery and hospitality industries in Canada. In his two-year tenure with Sweda Canada, he was responsible for restructuring the company and establishing new markets, resulting in improved sales margins and growth. Prior to Sweda, he held executive positions with NCR in Europe and Canada, with a particular focus on sales and professional services. Mr. Jones's qualifications include honours BSc and MBA degrees.
Business focus
Aludra was incorporated on June 24, 1997, and began operations as a full-service graphic design and multimedia firm. It expanded its services to include media solutions for Internet applications in 1998. Clients included AOL, Mattel, Paramount, Activision, ADP, TD Waterhouse, Toronto Maple Leafs, Headline Sports Cable Channel and Tridel. Aludra went public in August of 2000.
1) Aludra ProPOS
In January of 2000, the Beauty Supply Outlet (BSO), a 30-store retail franchise chain founded in 1993, commissioned Aludra to design a point-of-sale software solution because it was unhappy with its existing system and was not impressed with other available solutions. Aludra's initial solution, called ProPOS, was first deployed at BSO in October of 2000.
2) Aludra RMS
This initial exposure to the retail industry caused Aludra to take note of the opportunity that existed in taking an enterprise resource planning approach to store systems. In November of 2000, the decision was made to move forward with the development of an integrated retail solution using the latest technology. Faisal Nasir, previously director of information technology at Hospitality Solutions International, joined Aludra in January, 2001, with a team of developers who were given the mandate to develop this product. Further substantial resources were added to the project in August, 2001. This enterprise retail solution, called Aludra RMS, was released on Feb. 1, 2002. Development costs to that date were approximately $1-million.
On Feb. 11, 2002, Aludra entered into an agreement with BSO that calls for the installation of Aludra RMS at all BSO outlets after a successful 90-day trial at three of its existing stores. Although Aludra has agreed to provide its RMS software solution at no cost to the first 100 BSO stores, the corporation expects to earn between $100,000 and $150,000 in revenues from this contract over the next 12 months from staging, setup, support, installation and training revenues. BSO is receiving the first 100 licences at no cost in return for functioning as a test and reference site for the Aludra RMS product. The current market price for these licences is $3,000 for the first licence and $1,500 for each additional licence required per retail outlet.
Aludra intends to begin distributing its RMS software through dealers after the successful completion of the 90-day trial at BSO and plans to attend a retail system dealer show in Las Vegas in August, 2002. The corporation also intends to attend the Retail Systems 2002 Conference & Exposition in Chicago in June, 2002. This show attracts retailers who are looking for point-of-sale and other retail management solutions.
Aludra RMS modules immediately available include point-of-sale, full inventory management at store and chain level, purchasing and supplier management, labour scheduling, customer loyalty and contact management, and full database analysis and reporting facilities. Integrated accounting and e-commerce support are also available. Information can be accessed in-store, from head office, from any remote Internet location or from any device with built in WAP (wireless application protocol) such as a RIM Blackberry, Palm Pilot or mobile phone.
Single store retailers, or retail chains, requiring a powerful and flexible system to allow the tracking of inventories, full margin and profit analysis, fully integrated customer history, tracking loyalty and management, as well as reporting at store or head office level, will be able to use the features within the Aludra RMS suite.
Aludra has signed a joint agreement with RBA Inc., of Montreal, Que. Under this agreement RBA, with 36 centres across Canada, will provide comprehensive on-site service and support to Aludra customers across Canada.
Financial structure
Aludra will significantly improve its working capital situation through the conversion of $894,250 of debt into 3,577,000 common shares and the extension of repayment terms on a further $140,000 in debt to Jan. 1, 2005. The common shares issuable on conversion of the debt will be subject to a 12-month hold and are therefore not tradeable until March 1, 2003. The corporation will have 13,957,000 shares outstanding after the debt conversion.
The corporation has also reached an agreement to terminate its lease at 1 Woodborough Ave., Toronto, Ont., effective Dec. 31, 2001, resulting in cost savings of over $120,000 annually. Discussions are also under way concerning the restructuring or elimination of approximately $150,000 in total equipment lease obligations.
In addition, approximately $75,000 due to Mr. Baiocchi pursuant to loans he made to the corporation has been forgiven, thereby reducing the amount payable to him to $54,000. Monthly payments of $4,500 are scheduled to commence on April 1, 2002.
Reinstatement of trading
The corporation is currently working with the Canadian Venture Exchange Inc. on the reinstatement of trading of the corporation's common shares which management expects to occur by the beginning of March. |
