<<Im thoroughly disgusted by MZON.,..flash me when they pay off the accounts payable which is about 5 million higher thantheir recievables and cash position.>>
while their sales have been rising, their accounts payable has fluctuated little in 1998, which appears to be more a function of backlog than grimlins. accounts payable actually has been cut by 1/2 since 1997. they were a fairly prosperous operation in 1996, early 1997 moving into the $30s in late 96. they became top heavy in 1997 and tried expanding too rapidly. through the first half of 98 they cut costs as they were affected also by declining average selling prices of their systems, realligned their priorities, cut staff, and are now poised to return to significant profitablity. one reason for losing money in 98 was Apple. Apple accounted for a larger percent of their educational sales in 96 and 97. So with Apple's demise (and Apples lower ASP), MZON also teetered. Apple has begun to come back and MZON now supplies their educational affiliates with Windows based sytems as well.
also, the international Internet link could account for nearly 50% of their sales next year (currently 21%)- since, uh, if you live in Europe/Latin America/Asia and want to buy a system over the net, Zone is one of only three independent sites that will handle your PC order. what else. merry Christmas. |
