Cary,
I talked to Len Prange at length on Dec. 31, 1997. One of the questions I directed to him was about the Olympus America agreement to repurchase. Cary it turns out this is no big deal! The impact was much less than I expected.
On December 31, Olympus had about 60 systems in their inventory. Olympus still has the right to sell what is in their inventory. Most of these units are the basic AcCell systems which Olympus paid about $8,000 a piece for. What will happen is that AccuMed will sell what ever Olympus doesn't out of Olympus' inventory. AccuMed will sell the systems for about $12,000 to $13,000 for a net profit of about $5,000 per system. Therefore the impact will be minimal. In summary, their potential liability is 6 systems per month for about 9 more months. However, in fact they will be reselling the systems for additional profit. The only effect as I see it, will be that they will be reducing their manufacturing requirements by up to 6 systems per month for about 10 more months.
Also, Dr. Winrow has posted to this board that Peter Gombrich resignation had no relation to the ongoing discussions with NASDAQ.
I hope this allows you to have a better day!
Cisco |
