To Jenny:
All I can do is post what I'm thinking, respond to others and invite feedback to my questions.
VNE's run up to $3+ was momentum driven with shorts and short-term momentum players all jumping on board.
I jumped on because I liked the fundamentals, the partners and future prospects in this growing market sector. I plan to stay.
VNE is not like one of the junior energy or mining plays where News is released that is often speculative in nature with forward looking statements and then 'poof' everything slows down again and there's no action for months. Moreover, there is nothing to show for it - no mineral find, no gas, no oil. In VNE's case the marketing infrastructure is up and running, clients are on board, the partners are in place, and there are a number of good things to look forward to in the near-term.
One major pit fall in the e-commerce sector is lack of exposure to potential customer's. If no-one goes to your web site - then they don't know you exist. VNE has aggressively sought ISP partners - including AOL - this is where the exposure of the 'Web this Week' will be guaranteed for example.
vncorp.com
webthisweek.com
The News releases over the last couple of months, tied to the Press Conference at the recent Internet World Conference in Toronto, plus the subsequent article in the Globe & Mail, with more articles to follow in the press, all indicates that good times lie ahead. The next major thing to happen for VNE will be the upcoming financing. The first phase is due to be in place by the end of this month. From the January 21 News:
"The first phase of the private placement, totalling up to $6-million (Canadian), is expected to close on or before Feb. 28, 1999,..."
That's not long to wait at all. In many ways I really like what I call 'short term performance deliverables'. We don't have to wait months to know that status of this financing. In just two weeks we will know.
The October 1, 14 & 27 News talks of expansion not only in Canada, but also into Europe and South Africa. Expansion into other countries has/is already occured. These are just some of the reasons why I'm onboard VNE. It's still early days and VNE needs time to develop further, but over the last several months it has come a long way.
However, none of us can invest with our eyes closed or refuse to see the potential dark side of any investment - it's our money that we are investing after all. We need to know what's going on. I anticipate that AGORA will publish the answers to the questions that we asked of David Lucatch very soon - and I hope within a week.
VNE is still a junior company in many regards and a number of the questions that I asked related to reporting and disclosure which we see of the longer established companies on the TSE for example. What we need as informed investors to be in place by say the middle of this year are regular Insider trading reports that can be accessed via the Canada Stockwatch or BCSC sites and quarterly audited financials posted to the SEDAR web site. Answers to questions related to this side of VNE are just a phone call away, but I also want to see them published as well.
I like where VNE is going in the implementation of its business strategy and it is moving ahead quickly. However, in my view it cannot ignore the importance of also ensuring that it also implement a public disclosure strategy to investors - i.e., Insider trading info, quarterly audited financials, etc. - just as the big playes on the TSE do on a regular basis. I know that they realize its importance, because to ignore it may prove fatal.
I read in one of your earlier posts that you were considering going back into mutual funds. I'm out of them completly now - the returns aren't consistently good enough. However, I'm looking to add some funds later in the year, but only candidates from the stock index fund sector. More than 80% of mutual funds don't even match the performance of the S&P 500 index.
Good luck,
David |
