Info from a caller to mrsp today..
Recap of phone call to MRPS- Miles 3/3/99 /3:15PM EST
Below are my notes -not verbatim
Quest: (ME) In March of 1995 you announced a $20 mill. contract with Ford over
an 18 month period. What happened? What's the diff. with present contract?
Ans. (MILES) That was a "blanket" open order and not a firm "required" contract.
Present contract is a firm buy of 6,500+ units (the smaller A07 $695.retail) tester.
They are shipping 25-30 a week to Ford now. Could not give me actual revenue
figures except to say they are being sold at a "substantial profit margin".
Quest.(ME) What is the diff. between prior NASCAR announcemnets and the one
on Mar.2?
Ans. (Miles) They used to go to all the NASCAR events to "show' them the tester -
demos. They did this for 3 years. When they were able to show that 28 out of 28
failures detected by their unit did in fact fail, NASCAR decided to endose the
product. NASCAR is purchasing units directly from MRPS and in addition they are
getting calls from racing teams for further orders.
Quest.: (ME) Did MRPS issue an IPO in the past? Any plans for future stock
issuance, if you can say?
Ans. (MILES) Original IPO was issued under a "shell' company - to his knowledge
never traded? (ME-He was very vague about this and I could not get much info)
Quest. (ME)What are your present announced firm contracts?
Ans(MILES) Ford for 6,500+ smaller units; SPX private label Europe
distribution-10,000units;
GM- "blanket open order- original testing of product was done at the Pontiac plant
and 40 have been sold there (ME-I think the larger unit$2,950? one) and 28
delivered to date; trng. delivered at the Dayton Ohio plant and seven other plants
waiting for it.; A contract with a distributor called FM MAFCO - a construction
machinery distributor who initially has purchased 100 of the larger units and
starting in April have acontract to deliver 75 more a month. Miles mentioned how
they were looking for other distributor type arrangements with firm monthly orders
for product.
Quest: (ME) Any plans to go to NASDQ and get the the BB's?
ANS: (MILES) Jimmy has(or is having) a meeting this PM with a "large brokerage
house"
Quest. (ME) What can you tell me about this failed relationship with a PR firm?
Ans. (Miles) They apparantly were "given' 1.6mill shares of MRPS in exchange for
bringing in $.
They didn't but took the shares and are selling them . Miles believes mostly now
sold. They have some sort of legal action going on with NASD about it all trying to
recoup. (ME- nothing more said about it)
Qust;(ME) What kind of news will be announced Friday/ Financials?
Ans.(Miles) No, financials have been completed and sent to their accounting firm -
Marlin and Edmundson of Nashville. When they are returned to the company and
proofed they will be released- (couldn't give me a date except, soon) On Friday,
whatis planned is a kind of "white paper" (my term) which will answer a lot of
questions about the history of the firm and these questions asked here. (ME- He
also said that in the future they will use a "bigger" accounting firm.
Miscellaneous: They do have "6" total employees for all divisions includes 2 R&D
engineer types. The model they will use seems to be using contract manufacturers
for production and distributors for sales in addition to direct sales.
Conclusions: (Mine) While Miles was very affable and as forthcoming as he could
be with my questions, he also admitted he is no financial expert (me neither).
These new contracts - all occuring over last 4 months or so look real good to me,
but I guess I need to see the financials to estimate how big they might be, value of
stock, etc. But I was encouraged by the real firm contracts and the possibilities.
Miles did say 1998 was IN THE BLACK - that gave me both a pause and a grin.
Good luck all
Joe Arceri (JoeMA) |
