To all,
I posted the following on another board:
Subject: Re: Honesty Issue
Date: Sat, Jun 27, 1998 09:05 EDT
From: Phlailers
Message-id: <1998062713050400.JAA27498@ladder03.news.aol.com>
Hi John,
I read your e-mail to Scott Guffey, and his reply. I've also read your most recent post.
Let me begin by saying that over the almost six quarters since I began to accumulate shares in this stock I have been dismayed by many of the hopeful statements made during ATCT's conference calls. Before Mr. Guffey became the IR contact those calls were the only source of information besides SEC filings and the infrequent press releases. Unfortunately, at various times, each of former CEO Chavoya, current CEO & chairman Santry, CFO Waller, and COO
Allen have made statements regarding ATCT's future that were wishful rather than factual during these conference calls.
Now, having said that, I should add that most of the statements about ATCT's future have come true, just not in the time frame originally mentioned. This, I believe, is what has hurt the credibility of top management with shareholders. For example, during the most recent conference call CEO Santry mentioned that "in the next 2, 3, or 4 weeks" they would sign a lease for another call center in "a neighboring state". Obviously, the lease has not been
signed within Mr. Santry's loose timeframe. But why even bother to make such a statement? Why not wait until the fact, and then issue a press release?
So, that brings me to your correspondence with Mr. Guffey regarding the profitablility of IQI and the issue of honesty. I listened to the merger conference call twice and took notes. I know that it was stated that IQI was profitable, and I reported as much on the SI thread. Understandably, I was shocked to see that there was no net profit showing on IQI's income statements, and I complained by phone to Scott Guffey. While making no comments about the
statements made during the conference call he stated that IQI will contribute net income to the merged company during calendar 1998. Also, his explanation of how financial professionals look at a company's income statement rings true. Had I bothered to dig that deeply into the S-4 I would have posted that information on this and other forums.
So, what I'm saying is this: I believe that the comments about IQI's profitability during the merger announcement conference call were similar to comments made in previous conference calls. IQI will contribute net income to the merged company during this year, and if one removes the special charges from the trailing twelve months ended 3/31/98, then IQI had operating profit for that period also. It's too bad that this was not made clear during the
conference call. But as Mr. Guffey said, money managers already take these things into account. And right or wrong, conference calls are still geared for professionals.
I would love to read comments from you and the rest of this board.
Phil |
