Here is my opinion about the situation…
Although I'm down 25% now, I consider myself a longer term investor and bought more shares this week. As I've always stated, I will re-evaluate my position EOY / February 2015 (Q3 of their FY), when I've seen at least two full quarters. I invested in a start up that only began selling their product end of March 2014.
Yes, the company missed their first deadlines regarding the international contracts. No way around that. However, they did put out a new deadline, October. What I'm seeing now is people abusing the first timeline and disregarding the new one, to make others nervous. Only about three weeks ago, the company said Brazil and the other two contracts are on shedule.
I've been a shareholder since Oct/Nov 2013. Since that time, I've seen bashers claiming for months that they would never get their CA license. It was such a big deal at that time, because of these bashers, that the price rose about 800%. Momo was there. That's the only reason why the price went up this big. Right before this move there was desperation and fear was being spread more than there is now. The company was under attack, and even copyright infringement video's were made. For those reasons the company went dark and refused talking to any shareholder (ring a bell?). After a while they got 4 licenses in CA and proved all the naysayers wrong.
I've seen multiple attempts to take the company down over the past ten months. Well, they are still standing, fighting and making progress.
Right after the CA licenses, the company got their first distributor, Hi Time Wine Cellars. They ship to 25 States in the USA. This for me was a big deal, because half of the states in the USA could buy Marani online.
Then they got Specialty Cellars as a new distributor. It took a while before we heard anything about them and their accomplishments. So, people started saying they failed. And yet again, they were wrong. They are now distributing Marani to their local Costco stores. Knowing they have a huge list of clients like Wholefoods, the Marriot hotels (event on 9/20), and many others, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more coming.
After that, they announced Restaurant Depot. Very strategic also imo, as the company is aiming for the biggest states first. Currently, they are selling in at least 6 RD's in CA.
So, now they have licenses in California, Washington, Florida, Arizona, Minnesota, Illinois and Oregon. Upcoming are Georgia and New York imo.
The first container arrived on June, 11th, after Margrit went to Armenia to see to it that everything was in order to ship. This was also a very important accomplishment. The next shipments will go much smoother.
For about two months they have now been selling in 13 Costco's in SoCal and expect to expand to more Costco stores in Q4. This is very big imo, because it's very hard for a company to convince them to put their products on the shelves. Some Costco's even sell Marani top shelf right next to Grey Goose, which is a great accomplishment. Recently, the company announced a big re-order from Marani, which shows the demand in CA growing steadily.
The company also informed us of other National chains being interested in carrying the product. This is great news imo, because that would prove the company is doing a great job in closing the big accounts. And when the big accounts start carrying the product, the smaller ones will definitely follow. Knowing that Dan told us in February that presentations were done for Costco, and that Costco only started carrying Marani in June, shows that it really takes time to get everything into place. That’s how it goes in real business.
From my own DD I found out Marani has also a brand partner, Shavanson Enterprises. They have been promoting the product in several states and arranged events, together with Zodiac Brands. Events are starting to increase in-and outside CA, which is great brand awareness.
The company is also starting to hire sales representatives to increase the ground work. As I already found a job opening that was posted through BevForce, it means they are doing exactly what they said. Again.
Now were waiting for the 15-30-60 second national and international commercials, which should be out shortly (early Sept.). This would be the start of a National Marketing Campaign. We know the commercials are real, as Jacob got confirmation by e-mail. Huge exposure coming.
Recently, they found a Distributor in Georgia. As soon as the license is issued, this will be the next state where Marani will be distributed.
What more do we know. According to the latest financials, Margrit aligned herself with shareholders by buying 35M common shares.
We know that recently BlackBridge Capital recently invested in the company too.
The company preserved a $20M tax carry forward. Very positive imo.
I’m sure I forgot some important items, but these are the ones I find interesting and show that progress was made during their first 10 months.
As to the share price. It’s never fun watching the share price go down.
The drop of the 4 last months was a combination of several things imo. Dilution, "longs” selling, manipulation, shorting and flippers driving it down. Hard to watch.
If you watched L2 this week you will have noticed that a new MM (AYME) came in on the ask, just sitting there. Then, on Friday, all of a sudden when the price was at 0,008, he started selling 5M-6M shares into the bid in big blocks of 300K-500K. Well there was never a matching bid. This leads me to believe, it was a transaction. I may be wrong, but it certainly looked like an arranged transaction. When he was done, he left L2.
Also on Friday, Silverfox posted that he sold +3M only in the hope to be able to buy back in the 5’s. So that’s already about 10M of the 14M traded on Friday.
Really, I’m not too worried. The stock is way oversold, and a reversal is near imo.
Now, what am I looking/waiting for and what kind of things would I like to see in the not too distant future…
1) Commercials airing
2) First shipment to Brazil and 50% of L/C in the pocket
3) Mexico and Dominican Republic roll out
4) US container sold out, next one on its way
5) The announcement of another National Chain
6) Marani available in more stores, bars, hotels and restaurants
7) Financials (hopefully audited)
8 ) Increased revenues quarter over quarter
9) Improved balance sheet, retirement of more debt
10) Costco expansion in Q4
11) More distributors
12) More licences
13) Label approval for the brandy’s and the port wine
14) A shipment of the brandy’s and the port wine
15) Etc.
I wonder why anyone would leave now, when all the fun is about to start.
Lots fear has been created recently by posting about the contract and posting the meaningless O/S increases a 1000 times. Well, they are not getting my shares… yet. lol
You see, I can also write a long text like Berg. LOL
Difference is, I just try write it as factual as I possibly can.
Here is a link to my DD. But I’m are you all know where to find it by now.
http://investorshangout.com/post/view?id=1924744
All the above is just my opinion of course.
GLTA
Although I'm down 25% now, I consider myself a longer term investor and bought more shares this week. As I've always stated, I will re-evaluate my position EOY / February 2015 (Q3 of their FY), when I've seen at least two full quarters. I invested in a start up that only began selling their product end of March 2014.
Yes, the company missed their first deadlines regarding the international contracts. No way around that. However, they did put out a new deadline, October. What I'm seeing now is people abusing the first timeline and disregarding the new one, to make others nervous. Only about three weeks ago, the company said Brazil and the other two contracts are on shedule.
I've been a shareholder since Oct/Nov 2013. Since that time, I've seen bashers claiming for months that they would never get their CA license. It was such a big deal at that time, because of these bashers, that the price rose about 800%. Momo was there. That's the only reason why the price went up this big. Right before this move there was desperation and fear was being spread more than there is now. The company was under attack, and even copyright infringement video's were made. For those reasons the company went dark and refused talking to any shareholder (ring a bell?). After a while they got 4 licenses in CA and proved all the naysayers wrong.
I've seen multiple attempts to take the company down over the past ten months. Well, they are still standing, fighting and making progress.
Right after the CA licenses, the company got their first distributor, Hi Time Wine Cellars. They ship to 25 States in the USA. This for me was a big deal, because half of the states in the USA could buy Marani online.
Then they got Specialty Cellars as a new distributor. It took a while before we heard anything about them and their accomplishments. So, people started saying they failed. And yet again, they were wrong. They are now distributing Marani to their local Costco stores. Knowing they have a huge list of clients like Wholefoods, the Marriot hotels (event on 9/20), and many others, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more coming.
After that, they announced Restaurant Depot. Very strategic also imo, as the company is aiming for the biggest states first. Currently, they are selling in at least 6 RD's in CA.
So, now they have licenses in California, Washington, Florida, Arizona, Minnesota, Illinois and Oregon. Upcoming are Georgia and New York imo.
The first container arrived on June, 11th, after Margrit went to Armenia to see to it that everything was in order to ship. This was also a very important accomplishment. The next shipments will go much smoother.
For about two months they have now been selling in 13 Costco's in SoCal and expect to expand to more Costco stores in Q4. This is very big imo, because it's very hard for a company to convince them to put their products on the shelves. Some Costco's even sell Marani top shelf right next to Grey Goose, which is a great accomplishment. Recently, the company announced a big re-order from Marani, which shows the demand in CA growing steadily.
The company also informed us of other National chains being interested in carrying the product. This is great news imo, because that would prove the company is doing a great job in closing the big accounts. And when the big accounts start carrying the product, the smaller ones will definitely follow. Knowing that Dan told us in February that presentations were done for Costco, and that Costco only started carrying Marani in June, shows that it really takes time to get everything into place. That’s how it goes in real business.
From my own DD I found out Marani has also a brand partner, Shavanson Enterprises. They have been promoting the product in several states and arranged events, together with Zodiac Brands. Events are starting to increase in-and outside CA, which is great brand awareness.
The company is also starting to hire sales representatives to increase the ground work. As I already found a job opening that was posted through BevForce, it means they are doing exactly what they said. Again.
Now were waiting for the 15-30-60 second national and international commercials, which should be out shortly (early Sept.). This would be the start of a National Marketing Campaign. We know the commercials are real, as Jacob got confirmation by e-mail. Huge exposure coming.
Recently, they found a Distributor in Georgia. As soon as the license is issued, this will be the next state where Marani will be distributed.
What more do we know. According to the latest financials, Margrit aligned herself with shareholders by buying 35M common shares.
We know that recently BlackBridge Capital recently invested in the company too.
The company preserved a $20M tax carry forward. Very positive imo.
I’m sure I forgot some important items, but these are the ones I find interesting and show that progress was made during their first 10 months.
As to the share price. It’s never fun watching the share price go down.
The drop of the 4 last months was a combination of several things imo. Dilution, "longs” selling, manipulation, shorting and flippers driving it down. Hard to watch.
If you watched L2 this week you will have noticed that a new MM (AYME) came in on the ask, just sitting there. Then, on Friday, all of a sudden when the price was at 0,008, he started selling 5M-6M shares into the bid in big blocks of 300K-500K. Well there was never a matching bid. This leads me to believe, it was a transaction. I may be wrong, but it certainly looked like an arranged transaction. When he was done, he left L2.
Also on Friday, Silverfox posted that he sold +3M only in the hope to be able to buy back in the 5’s. So that’s already about 10M of the 14M traded on Friday.
Really, I’m not too worried. The stock is way oversold, and a reversal is near imo.
Now, what am I looking/waiting for and what kind of things would I like to see in the not too distant future…
1) Commercials airing
2) First shipment to Brazil and 50% of L/C in the pocket
3) Mexico and Dominican Republic roll out
4) US container sold out, next one on its way
5) The announcement of another National Chain
6) Marani available in more stores, bars, hotels and restaurants
7) Financials (hopefully audited)
8 ) Increased revenues quarter over quarter
9) Improved balance sheet, retirement of more debt
10) Costco expansion in Q4
11) More distributors
12) More licences
13) Label approval for the brandy’s and the port wine
14) A shipment of the brandy’s and the port wine
15) Etc.
I wonder why anyone would leave now, when all the fun is about to start.
Lots fear has been created recently by posting about the contract and posting the meaningless O/S increases a 1000 times. Well, they are not getting my shares… yet. lol
You see, I can also write a long text like Berg. LOL
Difference is, I just try write it as factual as I possibly can.
Here is a link to my DD. But I’m are you all know where to find it by now.
http://investorshangout.com/post/view?id=1924744
All the above is just my opinion of course.
GLTA
