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Microcap & Penny Stocks : AWLT wines and gourmet food - Italy Direct -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C. Riley who wrote (191)	12/5/1997 5:34:00 PM
From: Feraldo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2595

Well negative sentiment is good. But, it does look like a big mess. All companies have big messes though. Just when they are going up, most people don't care.

To: C. Riley who wrote (191)	12/6/1997 7:41:00 PM
From: C. Riley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2595

Whala!! Jackpot... here's the inside story on the winery acquisition. The property is 80 acres of which only 17 acres have vines. It has a bottling capacity of 16,000 bottles a day (which is 1333 cases). Note that is BOTTLING CAPACITY, not wine production! It has a 20,000 square foot building containing the winery on the ground floor, and two apartments on the second floor. It's actually quite plain in appearance. The realtor who handled the transaction listed the property for $1,450,000 originally but it was sold at a lower undisclosed price after sitting on the market, ignored by its absentee owners, for more than a year. The realtor described the seller as "anxious to sell by the end of the year" and "willing to provide some financing" just to unload. The realtor also said the property has been underperforming in terms of wine production due to neglect. So, now lets look at the numbers... The press release claimed Araldica paid $1.5 million for the property but in reality they paid a lower price! My research indicates Tuscany vineyards produce an average of 1870 liters of wine per acre. With 17 acres of vines, that's 31,790 liters maximum annual production. With a wine bottle of 750 ml, the vineyard has a maximum annual production of 42,387 bottles, which is 3532 cases. Sorry, a ten fold increase in production from the "few thousand cases" they claim it currently produces is simply impossible from 17 acres. Now look at this sentence from the press release: "While currently producing only a few thousand cases of its wines annually, in recent years, the winery and its 81 acre vineyard have been the beneficiary of substantial capital investment by Mr. Lego and his partners during the 8 years they have owned Antogianni, and is now capable of a 10 fold increase in production without additional capital investment." An honest and forthright release would have read: "The winery and its 17 acre vineyard have been the beneficiary of substantial capital investment by Mr. Lego and his partners during the 8 years they have owned Antogianni, and is now capable of producing a few thousand cases a year, a 10 fold increase over what it has been producing in recent years. However, additional capital investment will be required due to absentee ownership. Mr. Lego was unwilling to sink further funds into the property and therefore decided to cut his losses by working a sweetheart deal with Araldica." Sour grapes, huh?