gary
28-05-2006, 03:22 PM
Associated Press (AP) reported last Thursday that Meade Instruments Corp
would once again delay filing its annual financial report for the year
ended Feb. 28th 2006.
This latest delay comes about as the company conducts its own internal
audit after the Wall Street Journal named it, along with more than a
dozen other companies, of having allegedly questionable timing of stock
options grants to executives.
The Wall Street Journal articles had triggered the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) into probing several companies. AP reported
that "the companies are being targeted for juicing up the payoff of
stock options by backdating their grants to coincide with a point where
the stock prices had dropped to lows. The practice, if proven, meant
executives were able to reap profit as their companies' stocks rose well
above the options exercise price".
Earlier this month, Meade CEO Steven Murdock resigned and was replaced
by Steven Muellner. Muellner comes from a background of distributing
"children's toys, action sports and lifestyle consumer products". Meade
report that "Steve is very familiar with many of the issues facing Meade
Instruments today, from Asian sourcing to servicing large retail
accounts as well as specialty dealers."
In late March, the company made a press release lowering estimates
for its Fiscal Year 2006.
One difficulty the company was having was with its Asian supplier
of riflescopes. Its Simmons Master Series Riflescopes were named
"2006 Optic of the Year" by the American National Rifle Association
(NRA).
In a press release in later March, the company stated, "In addition, the
sales shortfall at our Simmons subsidiary due to production difficulties
at our Asian supplier continued into the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006,"
continued Casari. "As we have stated throughout the year, we were unable
to obtain enough products to satisfy existing orders on the vast
majority of our newly designed Simmons riflescopes. However, we are
pleased with the progress we have experienced at our second Asian
supplier of our proprietary riflescopes. This second source is an
established riflescope supplier from which the company has purchased
product in the past. We continue to expect Simmons' performance to
return to historical profitability levels, provided our supply
difficulties are materially resolved during the first quarter of fiscal
2007."
Associated Press reported that Meade announced that it expected to post
a loss of US$4.1 million for last year. The company also posted a loss
for the previous financial year.
Stock in Meade is currently trading at about US$2.71 a share.
would once again delay filing its annual financial report for the year
ended Feb. 28th 2006.
This latest delay comes about as the company conducts its own internal
audit after the Wall Street Journal named it, along with more than a
dozen other companies, of having allegedly questionable timing of stock
options grants to executives.
The Wall Street Journal articles had triggered the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC) into probing several companies. AP reported
that "the companies are being targeted for juicing up the payoff of
stock options by backdating their grants to coincide with a point where
the stock prices had dropped to lows. The practice, if proven, meant
executives were able to reap profit as their companies' stocks rose well
above the options exercise price".
Earlier this month, Meade CEO Steven Murdock resigned and was replaced
by Steven Muellner. Muellner comes from a background of distributing
"children's toys, action sports and lifestyle consumer products". Meade
report that "Steve is very familiar with many of the issues facing Meade
Instruments today, from Asian sourcing to servicing large retail
accounts as well as specialty dealers."
In late March, the company made a press release lowering estimates
for its Fiscal Year 2006.
One difficulty the company was having was with its Asian supplier
of riflescopes. Its Simmons Master Series Riflescopes were named
"2006 Optic of the Year" by the American National Rifle Association
(NRA).
In a press release in later March, the company stated, "In addition, the
sales shortfall at our Simmons subsidiary due to production difficulties
at our Asian supplier continued into the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006,"
continued Casari. "As we have stated throughout the year, we were unable
to obtain enough products to satisfy existing orders on the vast
majority of our newly designed Simmons riflescopes. However, we are
pleased with the progress we have experienced at our second Asian
supplier of our proprietary riflescopes. This second source is an
established riflescope supplier from which the company has purchased
product in the past. We continue to expect Simmons' performance to
return to historical profitability levels, provided our supply
difficulties are materially resolved during the first quarter of fiscal
2007."
Associated Press reported that Meade announced that it expected to post
a loss of US$4.1 million for last year. The company also posted a loss
for the previous financial year.
Stock in Meade is currently trading at about US$2.71 a share.