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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StockDung who wrote (11288)	3/18/2003 4:49:36 PM
From: Sir Auric Goldfinger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

Now in from Bloomberg:"Boots & Coots, in Default, Soars on Potential War Houston, March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc., which helped fight oil fires in the last Persian Gulf war and is now in default, rose 58 percent amid prospects for another war with Iraq. Boots & Coots rose 70 cents to $1.90 at 4:01 p.m. New York time in American Stock Exchange trading. Shares of the Houston- based company have more surged more than sixfold this month. Boots & Coots and a rival company run by firefighter Red Adair's fought 234 blazes in Kuwait in 1991, said operations manager Danny Clayton. The company has 20 employees that may be sent to Iraq if Saddam Hussein orders wells in that country sabotaged, he said. Those workers call themselves ``Hellfighters'' after the John Wayne movie that profiled such men, Clayton said. ``I think we will probably play the same role, just to respond and do what we need to do to fix the problem'' in any conflict with Iraq now, he said. ``The last half of last year hasslowed down and it has been slow up until today.'' Checkpoint Business Inc. said on Jan. 31 that Boots & Coots was in default of some loans. Checkpoint proposed that the company file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and cancel the common shares, a plan Boots & Coots' board is considering, the company said in a statement on Feb. 18. Bankruptcy Possible, Analyst Says Since the company's statement last month, ``nothing has changed,'' said Boots & Coots spokesman Barry Gross of Gross Capital Associates. He declined to comment further, and company officials did not return calls to comment on Boots & Coots' finances. The company had $7.93 million in assets and $19.9 million in liabilities on Sept. 30, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission financial filing. It got an advance of as much as $1 million in ``short-term working capital'' from Checkpoint, Boots & Coots said last month. A war with Iraq may not be enough to help the company avoid bankruptcy, said Shonstrom Research Associates President Michael Shonstrom, who owns warrants convertible into 50,000 shares. ``Would this be sufficient to offset the need to go into bankruptcy to raise additional equity funds is anyone's guess,'' said Shonstrom. In 2001, he said he received warrants convertible into shares from Monarch Consulting, which has since gone out of business and had worked as a consultant for Boots & Coots. ``In this situation there was an indirect payment that came to me,'' said Shonstrom, who has a ``hold'' rating on Boots & Coots shares. ``If you want to call that non-independent, then that is what it would be.'' --Jonathan Make in the Princeton newsroom (609) 750-4639, or jmake@bloomberg.net. Editor: Pensiero. Story illustration: For a tour of stock screens related to Boots & Coots, see WEL US CNP00528180103 .