Greetings once again folks. Trust the Easter season is being enjoyed by all across this great country and the world around.
My previous message expressed my feelings regarding the share roll back announcement and reflected past flustrations with progress at several points. It also expressed my on going hope.
I would like to share a portion of an email message that I received from Lawrie Koyle as a result. I sincerely appreciated Lawrie taking the time to share this information and by way of a telephone call giving me permission to share the information with all on Silicon Investors. Lawrie told me that Ted has been a very diligent tire kicker. It's good to know we have someone on the thread from the west coast who is close enough to keep a close eye on the progress and willing to share from his due dilligence.Keep up the good work!
Trust this will be of interest to all.
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 19:39:10 -0700
From: Markatech Industries <info@markatech.com>
Organization: Markatech
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: BobCurtis <rdc@netcom.ca>
Subject: update
Dear Bob
I havn't spoken to you for a little while so I thought I would bring you up to snuff. There is lots of great news with a little bad news.
I'll start with the bad news. We hired Bob Cameron a former regulator on the VSE to help us direct our plans from getting passed through the
exchange to the actual financing of our new project (he is also involved with the financial planners of British Columbia who will participate ina convertible preferred debenture). To get passed through the exchange we desperately wanted to avoid a massive dilution at very low levels among other things. To avoid the above problems and to make Markatech's financing possible, a consolidation was deemed necessary. Financing at the levels at preconsolidation prices would have created several problems. Furthermore, we have been told in no uncertain terms that at current levels we are not financible to the degree necessary to make us viable. For these reasons we have agreed to the smallest consolidation possible. I want it to be very clear that nobody here benefits from a consolidation except for the fact that Markatech will now have a chance to move forward and be viable. The following is from Union Securities newsletter :
/.........
the Informed Investor, Union Securities' newsletter for spring/98
VSE to Digest Losses
Although a different set of variables drive the Vancouver market
versus the other senior North American equity markets, we see 98 being a year where the VSE Composite index will also be relatively range bound. However, the key difference is that whereas the Toronto and New York markets will be digesting their previous gains in 1998, the Vancouver market will be digesting losses.
With the VSE Composite Index losing in excess of 50% of its value
from its peak in 1997, we think that the worst is now over and that 1998 will be a consolidation year for the Vancouver market. Many of the VSE's listed companies have seen their share prices beaten down to new lows, oftentimes at a tenth of lower of their highs for the year. Dozens of them will be forced to restructure as cash runs out and a bloated share capitalization lessens financing interest. Many of these companies will be forced to roll back their shares, change their names and modestly recapitalize themselves in order to survive for the next upmarket. Others will not be so fortunate and will run out of money altogether before being delisted. This is the inevitable boom-bust cycle of the VSE market.
/.........
The good news is that we are moving forward on all fronts. We are in
negotiations with a multinational handheld PC manufacturer that is close to becoming our strategic partner in Autonet. With them as partners we will be able to market Autonet internationally with them acting as our technical support. The head of marketing flew in from Tulsa and it looks very, very good. We have both the cities of Vancouver and Surrey waiting to see the outcome of these negotiations as the Epson handhelds we have been using are,due to their lack of resilience a major stumbling block. The new handhelds have been tested under water for 15 days, perfect for Vancouver.
We have tons of interest in Touchmaster that we can't move on due to
lack of financing. This situation will change dramatically in the very
near future. I honestly believe that if we had proper financing
Touchmaster is a good enough system to make Markatech a successful
company.
Finally, the CD plant looks so good and is coming together so well that I keep waiting for the shoe to drop. We have tied ourselves to a very successful CD manufacturer in California. They are supplying much of the secondary packaging and printing equipment needed besides preferential mastering. As of last week a broker in Seattle (production of 750,000 CDs/year) told Ken Spence the president of Spinner our joint venture partner that they would move to us. This is just one example. We are having many similar responses from CD users.
So there you have it. I believe that this will be an excellent year for Markatech shareholders. If you have any questions please feel free to call.
Lawrie Koyle
Thanks again Lawrie. Must say the potential that we could eventually be successful on three fronts does make for pleasant dreams. |
