For those interested in the Apple - Totally Hip Software Relationship here is a lengthy report issued by JADE on the THW thread on SI.
Totally Hip Software;
New Investor chat coming on THW's new web server? Expected in August.
For those that follow THW, remember there are short sellers that will
say
almost anything to get THW to go down. When in doubt, call the company.
I
did. I even went to see them in their offices at 201-1040 Hamilton
Street, in Vancouver this week. Very busy. Lots of excitement.
What I found out by simply asking!
1) THW met with over 100 press representatives in New York at the
MacWorld Expo, including the Wall Street Journal, People Magazine, and
other noteable press. These press reps were from all over the world. It
generally takes from as little as two weeks to eight weeks or more to
put
press out about a company. Since Totally Hip was awarded "Best of Show
98" they will definitely receive positive press from most of these
groups.
2) THW filed a lawsuit in early July against former president Rajiv
Aggarwal to recover damages and costs from problems associated with him
in late 1996 and 1997. THW has Aggarwal completely tied up in court
with
Court Orders in THW's favor. Aggarwal has been trying to negotiate an
out
of court settlement with THW since last Friday. THW will stand firm
until
they get what they want in damages and costs. The damage that was
caused
by Aggarwal was done in late 1996 until late 1997 and no further
damages
can be caused, so this can be considered like incarceration until his
trial.
Aggarwal is not at large anymore to hurt the company, therefore it
shouldn't worry shareholders at all. Daikin, (the company that Aggarwal
was working for since Jan 98) has informed THW that they terminated
Aggarwal "With Cause" late last week after conducting their own
internal
investigation into the Aggarwal situation. This demonstrates that
Daikin
believes THW and that THW has the legal rights on their side and not
Aggarwal.
3) New MS Windows 95-98 products on the horizon for early fall release.
The QuickTime 3 code for the Mac products was debugged on the Mac first
and is going into the Windows WebPainter 3. They said it made no sense
to
debug the QuickTime code two times. A hot new product (Windows only
product) called "Live Stage" is ready for beta testing in early August.
Looks like an extremely cool new product for Windows Web designers. New
Mac products in the works.
4) I found out that WP3 Sales have been extremely brisk since THW won
"Best of Show" award at MacWorld New York. Phones were ringing steady
when I was in the office. I overheard that THW sold out of first run of
packaged boxes in less than 8 days. New packages being put together in
Toronto this week and sent out to distributors and resellers to meet
growing product demand. Online sales are up considerably and expected
to
grow. THW now has the nucleus of a top notch sales and marketing team.
Brian Leeners manages Marketing, Sales, Admin and day to day operations
while Randall McCallum manages product development with his hot team of
developers. New marketing offices with over 10 people just over from
development center that has 12. Company expects to grow significantly
in
next 6 to 12 months.
5) THW is set to roll out a new Web server based on a high powered IBM
system using IBM Lotus Domino. No small feat for a small company. Will
stream line order processing, marketing, sales, etc. and everything
else
on their Web site. New web site supposed to allow for major demand for
product and "news groups" on THWs new products. Found out there will
also
be an area for investors to chat about the company. Up to date
information, facts without the shortseller, fiction bullshit.
6) THW doesn't worry about the Short sellers. They said the short
sellers
are like shock absorbers on a car. They are necessary, but don't add
much
value to the car and they are cheap to replace. They also said that the
short sellers will get burned most every time on this company because
THW
has positive news happening all the time. THW doesn't post most of this
positive news as press releases every week. PR for financial news wires
costs $750 to $1,000 to go out. They said they would rather put the $$$
into marketing. They are focused on the software and business, not
hype.
DEALS???
I asked about new deals, and of course they were very tight lipped. I
overheard some very positive things, but THW would not verify these for
me. One thing they did say was that shareholders shouldn't expect news
every day. Deals take time to get all the legalese worked out. The
software business moves a little slower than the patience level of a
shareholder. Isn't that a fact.
7) I asked about the recent setting of stock options. THW's executive
management and directors believe employees should be incented with
stock
options, but not at $.50. They made certain that only employees
received
the stock options and that the price was set at $.90 and not lower. And
each employee has to perform as well as the company in order for any of
these shares to be exercisable. When? Not until performance, vesting,
and
a considerably higher stock price is met. THW thinks far too many
companies reward management and directors with huge stock options and
this is not fare to the shareholders. THW executives and directors are
a
rare breed. They are perfectly happy earning out their escrow
performance
shares and don't grant themselves options.
8) Many calls from large brokerage firms (US and Canada) to discuss
possibilities of taking THW to NASDQ later this year. Maybe means major
financing at higher price levels since NASDQ requirements are $3.00 or
5.00 USD. THW is supposed to be looking at some Macintosh and Windows
acquisition targets to help rapidly grow revenue. Supposed to be
completed by end of September after summer is over.
9) This week is supposed to be generally quite. When an acceptable
agreement is reached with Aggarwal it will be announced and this stock
will surely move again to new levels. THW has all the cards on this
one.
Aggarwal is over a barrel since THW prepared there case for many months
and they are ready to launch further legal action against Aggarwal if
necessary.
10) iMac sales will start gettin larger in August when Apple ships it
and
THW's WebPainter 3 was designed mainly for the iMac customer. Means in
increase in sales for THW.
All in all, I was very impressed with this company.
I'm holding what I bought and buying more.
When the Americans get ahold of this gem, it will move to much higher
levels.
|
