Monday January 25, 12:02 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Investors Research Institute, Inc.
Announces 113 Public Companies
Pledge 'Best Practices in Investor
Relations',Higher Standards of
'Accessibility', 'Scrutiny', 'Disclosure'
NOTE TO EDITORS: The following is an investment opinion issued
by Investors Research Institute, Inc.
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 1999--Investors Research Institute, Inc., a
non-profit organization of individual investors, announces that 113 public companies have now
pledged to adhere to higher standards of ''accessibility'', ''scrutiny'' and ''disclosure'', acquiring the
right to display the organization's ''Seal of Best Practices in Investor Relations'' --- including three
companies listed on the American Stock Exchange, AutoBond Acceptance (Amex:ABD - news),
Hi-Shear Tech (Amex:HSR - news) and Osage Systems (Amex:OSE - news), 21 companies listed
on the Nasdaq Exchange, Safety Components International (Nasdaq:ABAG - news), American Bio
Medica (Nasdaq:ABMC - news), DualStar Technologies (Nasdaq:DSTR - news), E Net Inc.
(Nasdaq:ETEL - news), Equitex (Nasdaq:EQTX - news), Hudson Technology (Nasdaq:HDSN -
news), Hawaiian Natural Water (Nasdaq:HNWC - news), Imaginon (Nasdaq:IMON - news), New
Frontier (Nasdaq:NOOF - news), Optical Cable (Nasdaq:OCCF - news), Objective Systems
(Nasdaq:OSII - news), Perle Systems (Nasdaq:PERLF - news), Platinum Software (Nasdaq:PSQL
- news), Elephant & Castle Group (Nasdaq:PUBSF - news), Repligen Corp (Nasdaq:RGEN -
news), Synbiotics (Nasdaq:SBIO - news), Touchstone APPL (Nasdaq:TASA - news), Tech Data
Corp. (Nasdaq:TECD - news), Trinity Biotech (Nasdaq:TRIBY - news), Westmark Group
(Nasdaq:WGHI - news) and ZMAX Corp. (Nasdaq:ZMAX - news), two companies listed on the
Vancouver Exchange, ID Internet Direct (VSE/IDX) and Net Nanny (VSE/NNS), and 87
companies listed on the over the counter bulletin board, American Artists & Film (OTCBB:AAFC -
news), American Resources & Dev. (OTCBB:ADCO - news), African Resources (OTCBB:AFRI
- news), ALYA International, Inc. (OTCBB:ALYA - news), American Pacific Financial
(OTCBB:AMPA - news), Am-Pac Intl. (OTCBB:AMPC - news), Auto Network
(OTCBB:ANWK - news), Asset Retrieval (OTCBB:ARST - news), Avenue, Inc. (OTCBB:AVEN
- news), Allnet Services (OTCBB:AWEB - news), Biologix Int. (OTCBB:BGIX - news), Bio
Preserve (OTCBB:BIPN - news), Beverly Hills Country Club (OTCBB:BLTD - news), Boatraks
(OTCBB:BTRK - news), Cdknet.com, Inc. (OTCBB:CDKX - news), Celsion Corp
(OTCBB:CELN - news), Chartwell Int. (OTCBB:CHAP - news), Chancellor Corp
(OTCBB:CHLR - news), Casino Journal (OTCBB:CJPG - news), CorpHQ (OTCBB:COHQ -
news), Crys-Tel Telecom (OTCBB:CYSS - news), Dead On, Inc. (OTCBB:DEAD - news), Spa
Faucet, Inc. (OTCBB:DRIP - news), Eagle Capital (OTCBB:ECIC - news), Earth Search Sciences
(OTCBB:EDIS - news), Eduverse Accel (OTCBB:EDUV - news), Eagle Wireless
(OTCBB:EGLW - news), Egan Systems (OTCBB:EGNS - news), HydroGrowth Systems
(OTCBB:ERBS - news), Fieldpoint Pete (OTCBB:FPPC - news), Global Entertainment
(OTCBB:GAMM - news), Juina Mining (OTCBB:GEMM - news), Global Media Corp.
(OTCBB:GLMC - news), Global Med Technologies (OTCBB:GLOB - news), Generation
Entertainment (OTCBB:GNEN - news), Go Call, Inc. (OTCBB:GOCA - news), Cadapult Graphic
(OTCBB:GRFX - news), BoysToys.com (OTCBB:GRLZ - news), Hydro Grow, Inc.
(OTCBB:HGRW - news), International Barter (OTCBB:IBCX - news), Immediate Entertainment
(OTCBB:IEGP - news), Imperial Ginseng (OTCBB:IGPFF - news), IJNT Intl (OTCBB:IJNT -
news), Imagica Entertainment (OTCBB:IMEA - news), IRI, Inc. (OTCBB:IRIK - news), Kading
Companies, S.A. (OTCBB:KDNG - news), Kaleidoscope Media Group (OTCBB:KMGG -
news), Intermost Corp. (OTCBB:IMOT - news), Lifeline Biotech (OTCBB:LBTI - news), Leah
Industries (OTCBB:LEAH - news), Lucas Educational Systems (OTCBB:LEDS - news), Linkon
Corp. (OTCBB:LKON - news), LifeOne, Inc. (OTCBB:LONE - news), Mortgage Bankers
Holding Company (OTCBB:MBHC - news), Medix Resources (OTCBB:MDIX - news),
Worldwide Petromoly (OTCBB:MOLY - news), Metal Recovery (OTCBB:MRTI - news), Mactell
Corp. (OTCBB:MTLL - news), National Scientific (OTCBB:NSCT - news), NuOncology Labs,
Inc. (OTCBB:NLAB - news), NetUSA, Inc. (OTCBB:NTSA - news), Ora Electronics
(OTCBB:ORAE - news), ProTech Communications (OTCBB:PCTU - news), Northport Industries
(OTCBB:PESO - news) Planet City Software (OTCBB:PINC - news) , Plenum Communications
(OTCBB:PLNM - news), Prime Companies (OTCBB:PRMG - news), Probity International
(OTCBB:PROB - news), Power Technology (OTCBB:PWTC - news), Redneck Foods
(OTCBB:RDNK - news), Antra Holdings (OTCBB:RECD - news), Remington-Hall Capital
(OTCBB:REMH - news), Rocky Mountain Ginseng (OTCBB:RMGG - news), Centenary
International (OTCBB:RRRI - news), Systems Comm. (OTCBB:SCMI - news), Sunbase Asia
(OTCBB:SNBS - news), Starnet Communications (OTCBB:SNMM - news), Surgical Safety
(OTCBB:SURG - news), Syco Dist. OTCBB:(SYCD), IVP Tech Corp. (OTCBB:TALL - news),
Tao Partners, Inc. (OTCBB:TAOL - news), The Football Network (OTCBB:TFNK - news),
Today.com (OTCBB:TODY - news), Affinity Intl Travel (OTCBB:TRIP - news), US Digital
Communications (OTCBB:USDI - news), Venturi Technologies (OTCBB:VTIX - news) and
Welcome Search (OTCBB:WKWG - news) --- while four companies, American Eco
(Nasdaq:ECGOF - news), National Healthcare Manufacturing (Nasdaq:NHMCF - news),
Sportstar Marketing (OTCBB:SSMK - news) and US Bridge Construction (OTCBB:USBR -
news), no longer participate in the program.
Four of the participating companies, Spa Faucet, Inc. (OTCBB:DRIP - news), National Scientific
(OTCBB:NSCT - news), Remington-Hall Capital (OTCBB:REMH - news) and IVP Technology
Corp. (OTCBB:TALL - news) are on the association's ''watchlist'' pending the issuance of updated
company information.
To meet the ''accessibility'' standards, companies agree to schedule at least one pre-announced
conference call annually, equally accessible to individual investors, open all conference calls to
include individual investors, minimally in ''listen'' mode, which can be achieved via a webcast. Also
the companies agree to schedule at least one annual investor presentation which is open to individual
investors, and which is webcast. Webcast calls and presentations must be accessible for a minimum
of 90-days and include full text transcripts.
To meet the ''disclosure'' standards, companies have agreed to timely, equally accessible (to all
classes of investors) issuance of corporate reports and press releases, a searchable corporate
profile, and if not ''fully reporting'' under regulatory guidelines, to voluntarily ''self-report'' in a
central registry which IRI is establishing at investrend.com, now under development.
Companies also agree to immediate disclosure of any change in distributed shares, dilutive events
and insider buying or selling, and to provide archivals of up to three years of press releases so that
investors may more easily determine the efficiency with which participating companies have met their
announced corporate objectives.
To meet the standards for ''scrutiny'', the companies have agreed to position their companies for
professional analyst coverage, or to enroll in the unique Public Analysis & Review (PAR) program,
which assigns an independent analyst to regularly follow and report on companies with little or no
coverage. The Institute's programs are separately administered by IRI, Inc. (OTCBB: IRIK - news),
itself a public company in registration.
Individual investors may refer any public company to ''take the pledge'' at the organization's website
at investorsresearch.org, or to write theseal@usa.net for full details. IRI also administers
the Public Analysis & Review (PAR) program which assigns independent wirehouse-quality
professional analysts to provide continuing coverage of companies which have no analyst coverage.
Anyone may enroll a public company in the PAR program, which currently includes 14 public
companies and 12 qualified analysts, by inquiring at parprogram@usa.net .
Contact:
Investors Research Institute, Inc., New York
C. Partridge, 212/484-4747
theseal@usa.net
parprogram@usa.net
investorsresearch.org
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