Cliff's On ROB TVWell, I have to say that I thought Cliff did a much better job than he has in the past. The tendency to be verbose was there but he was pretty punchy, focussed and had some interesting things to say.
Asked about what has brought about the recent interest in RFID, Cliff described Walmart's dictates to its suppliers but then went on to say that every one forgets that Europe is way ahead. I implied through the way he said it, that SMY has some things cooking in Europe. When asked about profits and contracts and when we can expect news, he responded by says "very very soon, a matter of weeks." He stated that SMY was currently involved in "very signficant pilot projects." And then added that the "gestation period" for these projects is long because unlike other technologies this one is transformative [not his word] because it requires changing fundamentally existing business processes. With respect to standards Cliff said considerable progress had been made in developing standards but there is still some uncertainty. Nevertheless, and after pointing out that SMY had recently received a patent in this regard, he stated that SMY's technology was agnostic, which he explained meant that it doesn't matter what standards are adopted because SMY readers can read pretty much everything.
When asked about when SMY would be "profitable", Cliff replied by the end of the current fiscal year. He pointed out that SMY is in day 1 of the new fiscal year. Asked about analyst coverage, he said it was close, about to start. He made mention of todays financing, saying that there was a PR in the wires now, but really didn't elaborate. He had already consumed much of the 1.5 minutes he was told was left in time of the interview when asked about the financing. His last point is that the interest in RFID was growing enormously and that large U.S brokerages, Bear Stearns and Raymond James, were very interested in RFID.
There wasn't very much time for the entire interview and I think both Cliff and Howard Green packed in a fair amount. When I think of past interviews, as I said above, Cliff did very well and, I also think, the interviewer did a better job in this one than in the past.
Given all of this, I can see why the financing was so much oversubscribed and I can see why SMY's Board is not particularly concerned about dilution. It will be insignificant for SMY if things fall into place and the available money for SMY will certainly help things fall in place. Given the size of the financing there can be no doubt that institutions are involved who aren't even slightly concerned about dilution.
Tiger by the tail anyone?