Dear Shareholders and Friends,
Perhaps no word best reflects the zeitgeist in this country than
“change.” The slogans are everywhere: “ready for change,”
“change we can believe in,” “change we deserve”… For better or
for worse, times are, in fact, “a-changin’.” In line with the
times, Eternal Image is undergoing its own period of change – in
our case very beneficial change - from which we will emerge a
financially stronger and more efficient company and a powerful
force in the funeral industry.
Credibility is key.
During this quarter, we anticipate that our stock will move off
the Pinksheets and onto the OTC: Bulletin Board exchange. To the
investment community, nothing signals credibility and
reliability more than a company that is fully reporting and
current on filing requirements. While our time on the Pinksheets gave us valuable and crucial experience needed to
function on a higher exchange, we share your eagerness to see
Eternal Image become a fully reporting company.
CFO Jim Parliament leads a competent team that is more than
capable of meeting the upcoming demands of transparency and
disclosure: well-versed accounting professionals, legal counsel
that has been part of the SEC in the past, and an auditing firm
among the most respected in the country are just a few
components of this team.
We envision reaching the Bulletin Board with a buoyant stock
that is resistant to Market Maker manipulation and shorting.
Upcoming announcements to be made via news releases (after the
transition to OTC:BB) are expected to have tremendous impact
because of the greater visibility provided by the larger, more
stable exchange.
A Maturing Production Process
Eternal Image’s venture into the funeral industry was met with
some hesitation: finding manufacturing partners was a
challenging process. In the beginning the Company had only a
single manufacturer and, consequently, we were bound by their
unappealing yet crucial terms.
After doing business for more than a year with a single
supplier, Eternal Image gained the attention of other
manufacturers and the respect of overseas manufacturing
facilities. Our developmental processes started changing
rapidly. In July of 2007 we had one source of supply; today, we
engage a half-dozen. Experienced supply companies that can
weather the storms of fluctuating currencies and other forces
beyond our control offered better terms and quicker lead times.
Put simply: the Company’s cash flow situation is exponentially
improved thanks to the relationships with these seasoned
partners.
Another significant partner, in the area of global logistics,
has been engaged by Eternal Image to manage this efficient new
stream of product—and details about them will be saved for a
forthcoming news release.
Funds now available from improved cash flow have allowed Eternal
Image to expand its Licensing Agreements to include additional
licensed funeral items. We are no longer only a casket and urn
builder. Expect to soon see each of the brands in our portfolio
grow to include exciting new additions that will propel Eternal
Image even further into the industry and enable us to capture
greater market share.
While many of you have only been acquainted with our company for
a couple years, others know that Eternal Image began as an idea
more than six years ago and operated as a private company
personally funded by its founders and their friends and family.
No one is more thrilled about these changes than those of us who
have brought it to this place.
Challenges overcome in our past have shaped this change for
the future.
There are so many more changes to cover, but I don’t want to
steal the thunder from upcoming announcements that our
incredible PR firm ASAPR distributes on our behalf. Take the
National Funeral Directors’ Association annual convention for
example. At the 2007 Las Vegas show we had a 600 square-foot
booth that won Best in Show Design and had so many attendees
that velvet ropes had to be set up to allow for controlled
admittance—unprecedented for this show. This year the convention
is in Orlando and would you believe we are nearly tripling our
booth size and expecting even greater attendance?
The shockwaves felt by our presence are not just limited to
members of the funeral industry. Consumers write to us
regularly, genuinely thankful for the availability of one of our
products because it served as a perfect, fitting remembrance for
a loved one.
There’s so much more to share with you in the coming Quarter:
• The acquisition of new licenses.
• A twenty-fold increase in our number of distribution
and dealer centers.
• The launch of a new website and corporate image.
• Product placement in upcoming media including motion picture.
At the risk of closing this letter in the same cliché manner as
I opened it—let me say the best is yet to come! We are nearly
out of this mandated SB-2 quiet period and you will know very
soon what we’ve been tirelessly working on for the past few
months. In the meantime, you can look forward to reading some of
the latest Eternal Image news in our upcoming Newsletter that
will be distributed next week.
A simple want for improvement leads to the inevitable:
change. But when there exists a careful plan of action founded
on conquered trials, the change becomes a movement that ushers
in a new era. In our case: an era of greater credibility,
efficiency, profitability, and immeasurable growth. We are in
that movement now. These are the steps that prepare Eternal
Image for its entire future.
Thank you for being a part of it.
