LAS VEGAS, June 23, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- A new information resource is being provided today with the announcement of MCS' Public Company White Papers website.
www.pubcowhitepapers.com was developed by MCS to help educate Pink Sheet/OTCBB and, if adopted, BBX investors, issuers and market participants about tactics to maximize the value of their small public companies and/or to adapt to the changing securities regulatory regime that will impact all parties with an interest in the micro cap segment.
www.pubcowhitepapers.com by MCS provides a comprehensive list of white papers written by industry practitioners that cover seven content areas.
Micro cap industry veteran Stephen Brock, Chief Executive Officer of Management Consulting Services, previously founded GoPublicToday.com, Inc. and through it worked with CEOs to create a number of OTCBB-traded companies including TerenceNet, IncAmerican Market Support Network, Inc., BlueStar Leasing, Inc. (now Sterling Equity Holdings, Inc.), BlueStar Coffee, Inc. (now Consumer Direct of America, Inc.) and others.
In describing the Public Company White Papers, Mr. Brock said, "Our objective is to identify and present information and tactics that small public company investors, issuers and market participants can use to apply best-of-class knowledge to maximize the value of their micro cap companies.
"www.pubcowhitepapers.com offers content across seven key dimensions of the micro cap capital market: Pink Sheets, OTCBB, BBX, Acquisitions, SEC Compliance, Market Makers, and Sarbanes Oxley." He continued, "Public Company White Papers offers strong content plus each introduces a credible practitioner that can help micro cap investors, issuers and market participants. No other company offers such a broad range of multi-source information solutions for micro cap investors, issuers and market participants that cover all the key elements of this market."
"Information-driven market solutions have a sustainable, positive impact on companies' value," said John C. Malone, JD, CPA, Malone & Bailey, PLLC, http://www.malone-bailey.com/. Michael Williams Esq. of Williams Law Group, P.A. (wmslaw@tampabay.rr.com), in a recent letter to SEC Commissioners, stated that proposed capital market changes "represent the most significant (small) business regulation ever considered by the SEC, (affecting) both small business issuers and small business investors."
MCS and Mr. Brock recently sponsored the Nasdaq BBX Forum in Boston. Mr. Brock, after listening to issuer and market participants ask questions, realized there is a tremendous need for low-cost information to help micro cap investors, issuers and market participants develop strategies, execute value maximization tactics. He thinks that people with information can make the best possible choices regarding their Pink Sheets, OTCBB, BBX, Acquisitions, SEC Compliance, Market Makers and Sarbanes Oxley options. Brock is making $9.95 white papers available at www.pubcowhitepapers.com to provide this solution.
About Management Consulting Services
MCS is a strategic project management firm providing a suite of professional services available exclusively to companies trading on the OTC Bulletin Board(r). Our services are designed with your company in mind and geared toward coordinating effective public relations solutions and ensuring compliance with all appropriate rules and regulations pertaining to you being a public company. Companies that have benefited from MCS's expertise include TerenceNet, Inc., UgoMedia Interactive Corporation, Media and Entertainment Corporation.
About Malone and Bailey, PLLC
Malone and Bailey, PLLC, located in Houston, Texas, specializes in taxation and auditing for publicly traded (SEC-Regulated) Companies, local, national and international tax preparation and planning, auditing, and litigation support services. The firm audits 73 public companies and ranks number 7 among public accounting firms in the nation. Clients include such companies as Dyna Group International, Inc., Amarillo Biosciences, Inc. (OTCBB:AMAR), Computer Automation Systems, Inc., Concentrax, Inc., Cybertel Communications Corp., Fleetclean Systems, Inc., IQ Biometrics, Inc., Perma-Tune Electronics, Inc.
About Michael Williams
Michael T. Williams, Esq. of Williams Law Group, P.A. Tampa FL 33611, is a former SEC enforcement attorney with more than 27 years' experience, whose practice is now focused almost exclusively on taking public small companies that do not qualify for traditional IPO transactions and representing them in SEC compliance matters thereafter. In this connection, he has been and is currently involved in the following recent transactions: Meier Worldwide Interactive, Inc. (Pink Sheets:MWWD), Stock Market Solutions, Inc., SuperiorClean, Inc. HydroFlo, Inc. In addition, he also represents 10 SEC reporting issuers.
About Investrend
Investrend Communications, Inc. (ICI), has provided Shareholder Empowerment platforms and Financial Intelligence to millions of professionals and investors alike since 1996. Investrend provides shareholder empowerment platforms such as research, forums, broadcast and information/data, independently enhancing the visibility and liquidity for the shareholders of more than 500 public companies, from the NYSE to the Pink Sheets including International Monetary Systems, Ltd., InstaPay Systems, Inc., Heartland Oil and Gas Corp., and ALPHATRADE.COM.
About Pink Sheets
Pink Sheets(r) LLC is the leading provider of pricing and financial information for the over-the-counter (OTC) securities markets. It provides products and services that increase the transparency of information available in the OTC markets so as to make them more efficient for all participants. Its centralized information network includes services designed to benefit market makers, issuers, brokers and OTC investors. Pink Sheets information enhances the efficiency of OTC trading, provides better executions for OTC investors and improves the capital formation process for OTC issuers. The origins of the Pink Sheets go back to 1904, when the National Quotation Bureau began as a paper-based, inter-dealer quotation service linking competing market makers in OTC securities across the country. Since that time, the Pink Sheets and the Yellow Sheets have been the central resource for trading information in OTC stocks and bonds.
The Pink Sheets utilize the power of the Internet and the advances in web-based technology to increase the quality, timeliness and value of its information and services. The introduction of web-based technology at www.pinksheets.com provides a premier financial web portal for information about OTC securities. More than 10,000 OTC equities and bonds are traded on the Pink Sheets. Companies that trade Pink Sheets include Rand McNally (Other OTC:RNMC) and Houlihan's Restaurant Group, Lancaster National Bank, Volkswagen and French cosmetics company L'Oreal and Nestle, HUNTER DOUGLAS, Deutsche Bank ADRs and Cineplex Entertainment.
About the OTCBB
In June 1990, the OTCBB began operation, on a pilot basis, as part of important market structure reforms to provide transparency in the OTC equities market. The Penny Stock Reform Act of 1990 mandated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to establish an electronic system that met the requirements of Section 17B of the Exchange Act. The system was designed to facilitate the widespread publication of quotation and last-sale information. Since December 1993, firms have been required to report trades in all domestic OTC equity securities through the Automated Confirmation Transaction Service(sm)(ACT(sm)) within 90 seconds of the transaction. The OTCBB provides access to more than 3,600 securities and includes more than 330 participating Market Makers; it electronically transmits real-time quote, price, and volume information in domestic securities, foreign securities and ADRs; and displays indications of interest and prior-day trading activity in DPPs. Several well-known companies that trade on the OTCBB include Jenny Craig, Marx Toys, NutriSystem, and Nintendo.
About Nasdaq BBX
The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NDAQ) operates the world's largest electronic, screen-based equity securities market and the world's largest equity securities market based on share volume. It uses a multiple market maker system to centralize the price quotations from all market participants in a given Nasdaq-listed stock to help them compete and allow them to choose with whom they are going to trade. The Company's principal business products are price discovery and trading services, the sale of related market data and information, and the listing of securities. Nasdaq plans to launch the BBX as a listed market and terminate the OTCBB in 2004.
About Acquisitions
Over the last decade, merger and acquisition activity has become increasingly commonplace for smaller companies, public and private, especially in the OTCBB and Pink Sheets marketplaces where the trend for consolidation is increasing. For an owner or principal, it is important to understand the merger and acquisition process and have a plan to react to an opportunity when it arises. Understanding this process and being prepared will allow management teams to make the best decisions. In this section of the www.pubcowhitepapers.com website, an overview of the process and steps involved is detailed. M&A transactions, while complex, are simpler to understand when the process is broken down into its basic components.
About SEC Compliance
SEC Compliance requires comprehensive knowledge and adherence to securities laws and regulations encompassing the '33, '34, '35, '39, and '40 Acts and regulations, including proxy rules and SEC disclosure forms and practices. Bowne & Co., Inc. (BNE) is one company that provides SEC compliance services.
About Market Makers
On Nasdaq, Market Makers are NASD licensed broker-dealers willing to accept the risk of holding a particular number of shares of a particular security in order to facilitate trading in that security. Each Market Maker competes for customer order flow by displaying buy and sell quotations for a guaranteed number of shares. Once an order is received, the Market Maker will immediately sell from its own inventory, or seek the other side of the trade until it is executed. This process takes place in just seconds. Jefferies Group Inc., KNIGHT TRADING GROUP INC. and Charles Schwab Corp. are examples of publicly traded entities that are also micro cap market makers for Pink Sheets and OTCBB stocks.
About Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Sarbanes-Oxley is a sweeping piece of reform legislation intended to protect investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws. The law is expansive in its scope and reach. It establishes the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and provides for pervasive regulation of the accounting profession, creates a framework for major reforms in corporate governance, requires enhanced and more timely disclosures by public companies, mandates significantly increased criminal penalties for violations of the federal securities laws, prohibits senior officers and directors from trading in company securities during benefit plan black-out periods and incorporates "whistle-blower" protection provisions for employees identifying and reporting securities law and other violations. It also calls for studies to be provided to the Congress on a host of topics, including adoption of a principles-based accounting system, mandatory rotation of public accounting firms, pervasiveness of off-balance sheet transactions, consolidation of public accounting firms, the role and function of credit rating agencies and the role of investment banks in assisting public companies in manipulating their earnings and obfuscating their financial condition.