roanoke.com
Thursday, March 07, 2002
Judge ruled against cable company in one case
Optical Cable: 2 brokerages end lawsuits
Two other brokerage houses have sued Optical Cable's former chief executive for repayment of his trading loans.
By JEFF STURGEON
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Optical Cable Corp. announced Wednesday the end of two lawsuits stemming from last year's tug-of-war for the stock of former chief executive Bob Kopstein.
Two brokerage houses, UBS PaineWebber and Bear, Stearns & Co., sued the Roanoke County company in October. At the time, six brokerage houses had seized Kopstein's once-dominant portfolio of Optical Cable stock to cover his unpaid trading loans. The brokerages were selling the shares to reduce what Kopstein owed them. The lawsuits, which sought money damages, accused Optical Cable of holding up sales by not authorizing the transfer of Kopstein-owned shares that the brokerages had sold to new owners, Optical Cable said Wednesday.
A judge ruled for Bear, Stearns in one case; Optical Cable reached an agreement with Paine- Webber in the other, Optical Cable said, adding it did not believe it had acted improperly.
"The dismissal of these lawsuits reduces an element of uncertainty that was facing the company," said Neil Wilkin, president and chief financial officer, in a press release.
Two other brokerages, A.G. Edwards Inc. and Scott & Stringfellow, have sued Kopstein for repayment. Optical Cable said they are the only two brokerages that still hold Kopstein's Optical Cable shares. They hold a combined 16.2 million shares of the 17.9 million shares Kopstein owns, the company said. The company had 55.4 million shares outstanding Dec. 31.
According to partial financial results released Wednesday for the company's first quarter, sales reached $11.4 million during the three months that ended Jan. 31. That was down from atypically high sales of $17 million in the same quarter a year earlier, the company said.
Because sales usually pick up as the year wears on, officials said they were hopeful about the remainder of the fiscal year. |
