To: Ontopequity who wrote (264 ) 4/3/1998 12:28:00 AM From: John B. Smyth Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 856
I stand corrected, you stated that you would insult me, not embarrass me. Doug, you certainly like to spout generalities, name drop and quote or misquote what you have read. Unfortunately, when a person begins with ignorance and add such generalities, quotes or misquotes, the result is still ignorance. Let me respond to your following comments: "What I still don't understand is why you are trying to bid competitively for projects in a country that is in such bad economic shape. If your products are so leading edge, ( I believe they are), why do you sell them at a discount to debtor nations? Why not sell them at a premium to the rich nations?" When did I ever say that I would sell our products at a "discount to debtor nations"? International Competitive Bid (ICB) does not mean discount. Let me explain it in simple terms that you can understand. Unitec puts in its offer. The other companies put in their offer. We hope our bid is successful after evaluation of technical and financial merit. The competitors hope they win. That is competitive bidding. Competitive bidding does not mean selling at discount. We are selling our products to "rich nations". We have received orders from HongKong, Canada, South America, Caribbean, U.S. and the Middle East. When I returned to the office this afternoon, our staff was frantically trying to complete a medium sized Gas SCADA tender to meet today's courier for a U.S. project. But sell at a premium? Every project is competitive and we price according to the market. I know a lot of companies that would like to have the margins we do. "Companies like Unitec are valued on their expected future profitability, not the amount of gross sales." Companies like Unitec can be valued either way. In the early years an emerging company can increase shareholder wealth more by reinvesting its earnings in market expansion to accelerate sales growth. I am aware of one brokerage firm that is following Unitec and are going to make its recommendation based on sales growth not earnings. "Perhaps you are trying to gain market share. The question then becomes; Do you have deep enough pockets to stay in the game and continue to bid in such competitive markets?" Establishing sales in this business is the result of hard work and building relationships with our agents and customers. When the relationships are built on respect and trust, they will inure through difficult times. You might close your eyes in blind ignorance and walk away from a good market because of a short term downturn, but you would lose the chance for future business when events recover. My recent visits with the customer were well received, and I'm sure will give us an edge during the evaluation. I was advised by PLN that Unitec was the preferred bidder on an expansion that is coming as soon as the IMF situation is resolved. Our agent has produced three tenders which are IFI financed and my guess is that the value of those three will be close to $8 million. I met with the project manager on the Wonorejo project during the site visits. He is also a member of the reviewing committee. I had a chance to present some new and creative concepts to him to get a better feel for where we could gain a competitive advantage. The response was good. He confided that one of the other competitors told him they did not think they could compete with us, and after hearing the presentation, he knew why. Another member of the committee dropped by during my visit and reminded me that he had attended one of my SCADA lectures in 1995. Building and retaining relationships is important. "I have spoken to your Chief Financial Officer, and several key employees. They have led me to believe that you will require new financing very soon." If this is true, I am very concerned that such statements are being made to you or anyone. Further it would be totally out of character for any one of them to make those statements to anybody, let alone several of them making such statements to you. I will discuss this in our management meeting tomorrow morning. "Your 98 business plan states your intention to raise financing at $ 1.20 per share .Unitec trades at $ .40 right now, and 1999 is only 9 months away. If you issue shares at these levels you will devalue current holdings by roughly 13% for every $ Million dollars raised.This dilution should be a concern to all shareholders." I intend to top up the original $1million at the current levels. I think you are being a bit presumptuous beyond that. The financing, particularly the $300K advance from Yorkton gave us a good shot in the arm which should reflect well for our first quarter. "I know the weather and shopping is nice in Indonesia. I realize my spelling is poor and that I am not a very popular person for asking these questions." No comment. "But I would like to see a realistic business plan based on market realities. If it is not realistic I want to know why, and how this will change in the future." I have no intention of providing you with any further information. For the benefit of other readers, I am advising that you have threatened in a private posting to me, on this thread, to sue us. I understand now why the "without prejudice" leader in your postings. Please be advised that I will not look at or respond to any further of your postings. I would also caution you to be very careful about making inflammatory, libelous or other comments that might damage the good name of Unitec, its officers or directors. JBS