Prospective buyersI find it highly unlikely that TTM, Endicott, M-Flex, Flex/Multek or any other major US based PCB player will be interested in FTG due to the Toronto site's long standing issues. DDi could have looked at it long ago and apparently chose not to. The GIN problems had been in the rumour mill for the past 12 months so the DDIC decision would not have changed IMHO.
Although the stock looks to be tremendously undervalued the fact remains that it is impossible to get in or out with any volume - hence an investment in FTG is frozen money. It needs to get acquired to unleash any meaningful value for the long-time holders and in fact there is an argument that the current price on the company is fair (it is after all the "market" value and other current or recently sold Canadian comps have been miserable as well). The biggest fear should be an MBO because the current pricing trend would get leveraged.
The Canadian small cap tech companies that are PCB related (FTG, SMTC, AIM and even CYY) have long suffered from a poor analytical and institutional following. Additionally IR hasn't worked. These companies are simply too small as is the sector in Canada. Just take a look at how comparable US companies have faired during the past few years (ELTK; DDIC; INVX; etc.). Granted they have not had to deal with the grossly understimated impact of the C$ surge since '04 BUT their valuations/multiples have far exceeded anything a Canadian PCB/EMS play has ever seen. Just take a look at the leverage DDIC was able to get off of the Coretec deal.
"Buy America" and the C$ I suspect are going to play havoc with future fortunes for the foreseeable future. Let's hope they can find a buyer for all or parts of the company fast.