NEW YORK, May 20, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- International Monetary Systems, Ltd. (OTCBB:INLM), in the barter exchange business since 1988, has a book value of $2 million, current assets of $894K, and current liabilities of $683K, resulting in a healthy current ratio, well above 1, according to Investrend Research analyst Benjamin P. Chui, CFA, in a Benchmark report.
The full report, along with important disclosures and disclaimers, is available at www.investrendresearch.com
According to Chui, "The company currently has over 6,500 barter customers, and with a highly fragmented market, including more than 250 barter system firms in the US alone, with an estimated 200,000 member companies currently participating in organized barter exchanges, we believe the barter exchange market is ripe for consolidation, and that IMS is well positioned to be one of the leading players in this market that is growing approximately 15% a year.
"In the next 10 years, we expect there will be no more than five major barter exchanges dominating all bartering in the US. We expect IMS to be one of the eventual top 5 players. There is an estimated $700 million of goods and services in bartering today. The market should grow to approximately $3 billion in 10 years.
"The small privately held barter exchange networks will most likely be acquired and merged by their publicly traded competitors such as IMS, during this period of industry consolidation. IMS is also uniquely positioned for global expansion since its trading platform can be seamlessly integrated with members from any region in the world," Chui concluded.
Benjamin P. Chui, CFA, is a member of AIMR and the Securities Analyst of San Francisco. He has served as a buy-side security analyst and portfolio manager for San Francisco based American Pegasus Investment Management for five years. American Pegasus is a hedge fund firm focusing on US equities. Prior to that, he worked with Silicon Valley Venture Partners, a technology hedge fund firm in San Jose as general partner for two of their technology hedge funds. He is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with honors in economics and statistics.
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