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Biotech / Medical : Largest Percentage growth candidate is DRAX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Harold who wrote (11)	11/8/2003 4:13:15 AM
From: DEWWY	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13

There was a time not too long ago (a little over two years) when Barkin claimed in a press release an annual revenue growth of some 28% compounded over the previous five years. As it turns out, after a series of financial restatements, there was in reality no revenue growth at all. In fact during those five years there was a dramatic deterioration in the financial condition of the company (e.g. accum deficits up 40 million, total equity cut in half) from which it has not yet recovered. There was an average annual loss of some 3 million during those five years not apparent when it was happening. Those of us diligent enough to look back, have become accustomed to Barkin’s habit of being fast and free with the numbers, particularly in unaudited qtrly reports. The name of the game is sustained growth and profitability. These sudden anomalous spurts within a qtr are not convincing because they’ve happened before without follow through. [http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=DRAX&t=5y&l=off&z=l&q=c&c=] In terms of here and now, the contract manufacturing division is really the bell weather of what’s going on, because Barkin has been plowing so much money into it that it now represents the bulk of all Draxis assets. Income in this qtr of $327,000 against a $40 million dollar asset is a disgrace. And year to date these facilities are deeply in the red to the tune of half a million. After such a long incubation period (seven years+), this is certainly not impressive... one can only conclude that what we have here is incompetent management, a hallmark of Barkin’s ten year tenure as CEO. In the 3rd qtrly report they say “operating fundamentals are improving rapidly”. Barkin has been saying this for years. He said it when he introduced Brachyseeds. He said it when he tried to strike a co-operative deal with Elan. He said it way back when he had his alliance with Pfizer. All and each situation failed at great cost. In fact the loss fallout from the most recent failures has yet to play out (Barkin's habit of sitting on pending losses and shoving them through later in financial restatements). Many of us on the receiving end just don’t believe or trust him anymore. They also claim in this most recent report “Management expects continued gains in product revenues with significantly increasing margins driven by improved manufacturing efficiencies going forward”. We’ve heard this so often we’re numb. This is Barkin bullshit. One critically important side of all this is Barkin’s business ethics or lack thereof. His corporate behaviour from peopling his Board of Directors with cronies, misrepresenting financial performance, and gouging Draxis stockholders with his money grabbing stock option schemes is beyond the pale. If this company has any hope at all, Barkin should be shown the door.