Etching the date on Futura's tombstone. Reincarnation maybe into another company. Maybe if the buyer of Futura goes public then shareholders of old Futura could have first crack at any private placement. Reward us for our loyalty so to speak.
Some stayed on to the end because of the "Aeroplan" name. And how can we go wrong with that. Surely Futura will be successful. Not !
Others maybe thought a debt/share deal could have been worked out and saved the company. After all, there was an attempt in October 2012 to that effect with at least $2 million worth of debt involved.
Those of us who follow insider trading noted that David Beutel still has over 15 million shares. So things can't be that bad? Wrong! Can't trust insidier trading or lack of it to forecast stock movement. Too bad, even at 1 cent David coldl have pocketed $150,000. Which implies he didn't know bankruptcy was imminent.
And he probably he did not. Aeroplan filed the creditor claim in October. By then too late to sell any stock.
Then the comments by management in various news releases using words like "next level of success", and the word "profitable". Surely the CEO knows what he is talking about. Dreamers or genuinely thought so?
My impression was management saw the loyalty business as being profitable. After all it seemed so simple, what could go wrong? But they found it tough going instead. A group came together for 7-10 years or so. no experience in the loyalty business. A steep learning curve shocked everyone.
Should this company even gone public? Wellington West did an equity financing in 2006, but after that, the company was supported by debt.
The $8 million value for the processing division was an inflated number it appears. How could an independent appraiser make such a mistake is beyond me. In the final analysis, it's worth only what someone is willing to pay for it. But this too could have made some shareholders stay onto the end. Sell off the tax losses plus the business and maybe some shareholder value could be salvaged. Not to be however.
Who or what to blame now is too late now. The time has passed for the company.