Michael, I really enjoy reading your posts, along with everyone else's. I wish I were as articulate as you and some of the folks on this thread. The best that I can do at this time, is post what I find and maybe give an opinion once in a while.
I agree we are making slow progress in the right direction, but I believe we will see some definite improvements in this upcoming FY. I say this because, this FY should be the year that Stan gets his dividends (and rightly so), unless I am mistaken. I believe I inquired about this subject over a year ago on this thread - where Stan gets a percentage of the dividends for one year and then his Class A stock (if that is the correct term), changes over to common stock. If I was Stan and given what was just said to be true, you can be sure that I would want to see a heck of a lot of profit coming in during this year. I'm sure a lot of agreements were made with regards to this timetable (some may not be met). I thought Southwall was going to have their second plant up and running in this quarter or by the end of this year? Or, is that totally unrelated to ECD? What about Unique Mobility, and their part in this picture? And then we have royalties coming from DVD's and batteries, not to mention back royalties (enough time has probably elapsed). You know it wouldn't surprise me if we didn't see some of those back royalties, if not the bulk of them, until the yen picks up. Didn't the annual report make some reference to royalties being down, due to the unfavorable exchange rates with the Japanese yen? Again, if I were Stan, I wouldn't mind waiting a little longer (provided it is within this FY), before receiving the bulk of the back royalties.
To touch on one other point that you made with regards to the cost of NiMH batteries. Does anyone know what the cost breakdown is for manufacturing a battery? I know it has been mentioned that as production goes up the price will come down, but that is handmade vs. machine made isn't it? What about actual material costs of making the battery? What percentage of the current cost are the materials?
I don't want to sound to optimistic and I know some of you have been with ECD longer than I have, but I think we are about to see something wonderful (gee's now I sound like that voice from 2001). I mentioned this a long time ago and I will reiterate. I will probably hold on to this stock until I die. Does that sound extreme? No, I'm just a firm believer.
|
