REFR bulls have rallied behind a CNET News.com article by editor at-large Michael Kanellos. The article heavily quotes John Petraglia, CEO of SPD Control Systems, noted previously as yet another in a line of cookie-cutter REFR licensees which come out of nowhere, make a little noise to get a few people excited, then vanish to leave nothing but their name on REFR's burgeoning list of licensees. In a shocking development, Petraglia spoke optimistically of the technology his company is licensed to sell.
Besides the amusingly obscure mention of Leminur, which apparently does exist after all, only now under a different name, and no particular favoritism to SPD or REFR, the highlight of the article appears to be the very beginning of the article, wherein Kanellos writes: "Smart Glass, which will be shown off and discussed more fully in about eight weeks...".
Bulls in REFR have gone nuts trying to parse exactly what that refers to. So far the consensus on the message boards appears to be that the article foreshadows a major development of some kind within the next month. (Hey, eight weeks, one month, who's counting?) Critics responded by yawning and hitting the snooze button, knowing full well that asking any of the bulls for any sort of clarification on what they mean is a waste of time.
Meanwhile, with only nine months or so before the cash runs out, the heat is decidedly on for REFR to find some source of cash infusion to keep the lights on. Given the usual regulatory hurdles that need to be cleared, things need to start happening pretty soon if they're going to make it. So next month way well be interesting to watch. Unless, of course, it isn't.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Out with the old?
Research Frontiers, ever full of surprises (or full of something, anyway), submitted its 10-K for fiscal year 2005 yesterday, a full two days ahead of the deadline. For the year, they amassed $138,742 in "fee income", the lowest level since 1999. (Ironic that the stock should have done so well that year!)
One point of interest that has come up is the assertion that REFR will have sufficient funds to make it into Q1 2007 without additional funding (a necessary assertion to avoid the dreaded "going concern" clause in their filing).
But elsewhere in the filing, the numbers don't quite add up to support that claim. Cash as of the end of 2005 was pegged at $3,644,685, while "net cash used in operating activites" for 2005 was $3,920,835. The same figure in 2004 was slightly less than $3.64 million, but that included a non-repeating cash gain from the remnants of SPD Inc.
Any way you cut it, the company, as it is, seems to come up a little bit short of being able to make it to years' end solvent. Presumably, then, REFR has some kind of plan to cut costs to allow themslves to stretch their cash out until December.
Given that the details of how REFR spends its cash are a bit murky to say the least, it's hard to speculate just where the cuts might come, but one sizeable item suggests itself.
Chairman, founder and director Robert Saxe has devoted 40 years to... well, whatever it is REFR does, and by all standards figures to be ready to move on to an enjoyable retirement. (Paid for by... well, let's not go there today.) If Saxe were to announce his retirement at the annual meeting this year, that would, based on his 2004 salary, trim roughly $250,000 from REFR's expenses for the year. In and of itself that's still not quite enough, but that gets the target into range, wherein a simple matter of deferring a couple of payables by a month or two, or maybe a handful of exercises of cheap stock options, gets them across the December 31st finish line intact.
So could that be it? Could this be Saxe's last ride? Will this officially become Joe Harary's company before the year is out? And if so, will Harary display the same kind of, er, patience as Saxe has over the years? Stay tuned.
One point of interest that has come up is the assertion that REFR will have sufficient funds to make it into Q1 2007 without additional funding (a necessary assertion to avoid the dreaded "going concern" clause in their filing).
But elsewhere in the filing, the numbers don't quite add up to support that claim. Cash as of the end of 2005 was pegged at $3,644,685, while "net cash used in operating activites" for 2005 was $3,920,835. The same figure in 2004 was slightly less than $3.64 million, but that included a non-repeating cash gain from the remnants of SPD Inc.
Any way you cut it, the company, as it is, seems to come up a little bit short of being able to make it to years' end solvent. Presumably, then, REFR has some kind of plan to cut costs to allow themslves to stretch their cash out until December.
Given that the details of how REFR spends its cash are a bit murky to say the least, it's hard to speculate just where the cuts might come, but one sizeable item suggests itself.
Chairman, founder and director Robert Saxe has devoted 40 years to... well, whatever it is REFR does, and by all standards figures to be ready to move on to an enjoyable retirement. (Paid for by... well, let's not go there today.) If Saxe were to announce his retirement at the annual meeting this year, that would, based on his 2004 salary, trim roughly $250,000 from REFR's expenses for the year. In and of itself that's still not quite enough, but that gets the target into range, wherein a simple matter of deferring a couple of payables by a month or two, or maybe a handful of exercises of cheap stock options, gets them across the December 31st finish line intact.
So could that be it? Could this be Saxe's last ride? Will this officially become Joe Harary's company before the year is out? And if so, will Harary display the same kind of, er, patience as Saxe has over the years? Stay tuned.
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