|
Overview The headlines have been frightening: E-coli, salmonella, streptococcus, staphylococcus, listeria, etc. Tainted foods have caused illness & death in the U.S. & in other countries. The demand for safe, high quality foods is creating a need for improved methods of perishable control in the food industry. Current methods are grossly inadequate & basically ineffective. Major retail chains, distribution centers, transporta-tion companies, & food processors are seeking new tools to ensure food safety while maintaining profitabili-ty. The food industry is being regulated more & more by govern-ments seeking to stem the tide. Consider these facts: Every 58 minutes one person will die & another 1,027 will become sick from a foodborne illness in the U.S. That's 9,000,000 annually; From 1973 to 1987, only 2% of foodborne illness cases stemmed from produce. However, from 1988 to 1991, this figure increased to between 5% & 8%; in 1997, 25 million pounds of hamburger were recalled from an outbreak of E.coli. The economic impact of spoilage is also substantial. It is estimated that $5.8 billion of food product is lost each year due to spoilage. Another problem: The retail food industry faces an ongoing problem with shrinkage, the reduction of size & weight of produce through loss of moisture, reducing profitability. Industry estimates indicate that the typical retail grocer will lose about 2% due to shrinkage. Nationally, this amounts to almost $750,000,-000 every year. A major problem, certainly. Raytec is well on the road to solving these problems through the acquisitions of Fractal, the leading manufacturer of moisture maintenance technologies, & Astech, the leading service provider of perishable equipment supplies. In addition, Raytec invented a dry media chlorine dioxide called dmC102, a unique patented technology for the generation from dry media cursors for both food & non-food application. A strategic alliance with Englehard Corporation has created the first complete offering in perishable food management in the industry. History Started in 1978, Raytec was originally a junior resource company. It began marketing automated produce misting systems to retail grocers under the trade name Hydro Mist in 1993. It then acquired Fractal in 1995, & Astech in 1998. With over 13 years experience, Raytec is the leading manufac-turer, developer, & marketer of perishable control systems for the food industry. It is leading the way for antimicrobial control products. The company holds various patents, patent applica-tions, trademarks, & other intellectual property & technology. |
Business/Products Raytec supplies products to the food industry. It sells produce misting systems (you've seen them working in the better supermarkets such as Harris Teeter & Stop 'N Shop), service case dehumidifiers, dewpoint humidifi-ers, ethylene control sachets, air treatment systems, reverse Osmosis filtration systems, & water softeners. It is launching its ShrinkGUARDTM product line 5/2/99, following excellent test results by an independent auditor. Testing of over 115 different product items demonstrated that an average of 40% reduction on overall product shrink was achieved with the use of ShrinkGUARDTM matting. Such shrinkage costs the typical North American grocer almost $62,400 each year.... the use of ShrinkGUARDTM matting could save each store about $25,000 annually. This product also comes in a sachet form which releases the chlorine dioxide vapors over a period of up to two months, preventing shrinkage & eliminating bacteria, viruses, fungi, & odors. Chlorine dioxide is well-known in the food processing industry as a powerful broad spectrum biocide effective against microor-ganisms, thereby increasing food quality & reducing public health concerns. A major disadvantage was that it had to be applied only as a rinse, spray, fog, cream, or gel. Raytec developed a revolutionary new technology in the use of dry media chlorine dioxide. It is an environmentally friendly technology that protects human health from bacteria & other microorganisms while protecting the environment from harmful bi-products formed by other disinfectant methods. Once it has killed a wide range of bacteria, viruses, & other microbes, it reduces safely into common salts - no potentially carcinogenic organic com-pounds or harmful by-products are generated. Unlike ordinary chlorine, dry chlorine dioxide (CIO2) eliminates many of chlorine's safety & handling problems in addition to reducing harmful by-products. Raytec's alliance partner, Englehard Corp., developed a Controlled Sustained Release (CSR) system which allows the release of chlorine dioxide in safe & effective doses, in a wide range of concentrations over time spans ranging from minutes to months. Dry media can thus be tailored to meet a wide range of application requirements. It also eliminates the need for mechanical generators & mixing equipment, & greatly reduces shipping & storage costs. The list of potential applications for chlorine dioxide is huge: soil sterilization, grain storage, contamination control, air cleaning, deodorizers, smoke damage restoration, produce liners, food processing, seafood deodorization, meat & poultry pads, medical & dental trays, bio-hazard waste containers, bandages, water filters, etc.; any place where cleanliness & deodorizat-ion is required. Market There are over 128,000 grocery stores & 30,000 supermar-kets generating over $412 billion in sales in the U.S. This extremely competitive industry produced an after-tax profit of only 1.2% in fiscal 1996; therefore reduction of spoilage & shrinkage is very important. Of the $5.8 billion of food product lost per year, $652 million is in produce alone. Most importantly, every 58 minutes, foodborne illnesses kill one person & affect 1,027 people in the U.S., & strong new governmental regulations have been implemented. Along with heavy media attention, opportunities for Raytec's products & unique technologies abound. ...continued on next page, click here |
|
|
|
Disclaimer: The public companies featured in the Corporate Profiles listed in the "Special Situation" section on the Home Page of www.WallStreetCorner.com are our regular clients. Each such client pays an annual cash fee of $12,000, or alternatively, a monthly cash fee of $495 plus a negotiated number of Form 144 restricted shares for our service. We on rare occasions accept free-trading shares, but we usually hold such shares for the long pull - we do not engage in trading. Such fees are disclosed as part of the Corporate Profile prepared and posted on the particular company involved. The basic coverage provided to such clients primarily includes the preparation of their Corporate Profile, posting it here at WallStreetCorner.com, and the distribution of email alerts to our international database of investors and financial professionals when their Profile is initially posted, and each time their Profile is subsequently updated. We expect our clients to work with us in a team effort by calling us each time they have achieved a significant milestone. We then update their Profile and issue an additional email alert to our totally opt-in email database (as of July 2008, members of that database are from over 96 countries). The email distributions we make are a key element of our service -- those, as well as the updated Corporate Profile are what together are designed to achieve a gradual buildup of new shareholders who generally hold for the long term. If you are an officer at a public company and want the exposure afforded at WallStreetCorner.com, email Larry at up415@aol.com or call him at 843-645-2729. Information displayed by WallStreetCorner in its Corporate Profiles, and in its editorial or other columns, does not constitute an offer to buy, sell, or trade a security of any kind, including stock. Larry Oakley, and/or WallStreetCorner.com, Inc., does not recommend that any person, institution, or other entity make any decisions or form any opinions, etc. based on the information on this site. All visitors to this site are urged to do two things before investing in any stock: (1) Call the company and ask questions -- if there is anything you do not like regarding such call, pass -- our goal is to bring you a selection of what we feel are growth situations with good long-term appreciation potential, but you must accept the responsibility of making your own decisions regarding which situations to invest in -- do not give up that responsibility; and (2) Consult a qualified financial professional before taking any actions in regards to buying, selling, or trading securities (stocks or other forms of equity). Companies covered in Conservative Speculator, a newsletter accessed from WallStreetCorner, or in any of Larry Oakley's other editorial venues ("Opinion," "Stock Pick," "Comment," and "Bold Ventures" columns, and in any other editorial venue to which Larry contributes) do not pay for such editorial coverage; the companies Larry covers editorially have never, do not now, and never will be charged for editorial coverage. The only paid portions of WallStreetCorner.com are the Profiles and email distributions (email distributions are a part of the client's package, but occasionally are paid for separately by non-clients - if a non-client wants to utilize our email distributions, the cost is $2,000 for the first distribution, $1,500 for the second, $1,000 for the third, and $500 for all subsequent distributions made for the same company). On occasion, Larry Oakley shares his opinion regarding a private company or its product or service. Bear in mind that nothing at that special section is an investment possibility. To see that section, click where on the home page it says: "Click here to access our Special Emerging Growth Situations." See the introductory portion of that special section for additional information regarding the material covered there. |
|
|
WallStreetCorner.com |
