$30 to $36 million next year?
Article in the Los Angeles Daily News
Financial reports cast doubt on BAT's future
by Ben Sullivan
Daily News Staff Writer
Burbank --- Automotive engineering specialist BAT International opened its books for the first time Tuesday, revealing a company in debt and whose auditor questions its near-time viability.
But management of the tiny firm, whose volatile share price has grabbed national headlines in recent months, said significant revenues are on the way.
"We're going from a research and development company to a revenue-generating company. but I can't do it overnight," BAT CEO Joseph LaStella said.
For the year ended Dec. 31, BAT and its seven subsidiaries had a net
loss of $140,015, or 2 cents a diluted share, with no sales, according to the figures posted on BAT's World Wide Web site.
The company had assets of $211,559 and liabilities of $375,736, including $78,000 in delinquent payroll taxes and $38,300 in business taxes. BAT spent $612,000 on research and development last year, according to the report.
In a summary attached to the financial statement, BAT's auditor, Santa
Moinca-based Josephson and Stonefield Certified Public Accountants,
says the firm plans to use its reputation and technology to attract new
sources of financing, and eventually expects to receive royalties on products that use its various energy technologies.
But so far, the auditor wrote, BAT has depended upon cash infusions from another firm, also headed by LaStella, raising "significant doubt as to the company's ability to continue as a going concern."
LaStella said not only will BAT continue, but should by year's end be
generating 50 cents to 60 cents a share in annual earnings, or $30
million to $36 million. LaStella said he could not reveal what deals
would generate that income.
In related news, BAT announced the creation of a new subsidiary Tuesday to market its engine technology to the power-generation industry. Southern States Power Co., Inc. is being funded with $1
million raised in a private placement.
BAT gained national attention earlier this year when its share price zoomed from 8 cents to more than $3 based upon company reports that it had developed a new engine technology that allows a car to
travel up to 100 miles on a single gallon of fuel. The company's share price has since fallen to the $1 range, and closed Tuesday down 17
cents to 93 cents. |
