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Reconstruction Always Ready to HelpBy Rick Horowitz
"...because when you come right down to it, yesterday's tomorrows are here today. Thank you very much." "And thank you, Tom, for that excellent presentation. Now, for our next 'Five-Minute Focus' chat, let me turn the Roundtable microphone over to our good friend Bill Paylode. He's been looking at his company's latest numbers, and I know you'll like what he's been seeing. Bill?" "Thanks, Roger, for that kind introduction. Brief, but kind -- but that's how the 'Focus' chats work: no frills. So I'll get right down to business myself. Let me thank you all for turning out this noontime -- it's good to see so many friendly faces. As most of you know, I've been at KaboomCo for 11 years now, and CEO for the past two. So when I tell you I've seldom seen a first-quarter report as solid as the one we've just issued, you know I've got a pretty good basis for comparison. In the little bit of time we've got, I'd -- " "Four minutes and 40 seconds, Bill." "Funny stuff, Roger. Thanks." "Make that four minutes and 35 seconds." "Got it. Anyway, in the even littler bit of time we've got, I want to touch on a couple of things that really stand out for me. First of all, of course, the war in Iraq. I'm sure I speak for several of you here today when I say that the war in Iraq has been a major boost to the bottom line. KaboomCo's production facilities have been running at 96 percent of capacity for well over 18 months now, turning out a wide array of equipment and munitions to serve our brave men and women in uniform as they bring democracy to the cradle of civilization. "Now, as you can see from this chart here, total munitions tonnage has continued to rise, quarter vs. quarter, all through this period. And look at the growth over here, in our intelligent-weapons division -- laser-targeted, precision-guided, the whole nine yards. That's the future of warfare, and we've been able to drink up a hefty share of that revenue stream. So -- " "Bill, was it the ad campaign?" "I'm sure it didn't hurt, Roger. Some of you probably saw it in the trade mags: 'Smart bombs, smart choice.' Look, any kind of visibility helps -- in the right circles, of course. So I'd say it's maybe one part ad campaign to five parts former cabinet officials. We hired all sorts of former cabinet officials -- when it comes to getting those big contracts falling your way, you've got to have the guy who knows the guy, if you know what I mean. "So I guess what I'm saying is it all helps, whether you're selling weapons or delivery capabilities -- and you saw plenty of KaboomCo aircraft up there, too -- the whole thing just comes together. Which brings me to my second point: why it's so important to bring it all together. "Carving out a small niche for yourself in your particular field is fine -- if you want to think small. But if you want to play in the big time, you don't think small, you think 'All!' "I know plenty of people -- maybe even some of you in this room -- were pretty skeptical when we launched KabuildCo a few years back, but we like to think we were seeing over the horizon just a bit. It's already our fastest-growing division, and its earnings-per-share impact over the next couple of years is going to be enormous. "What has the KaboomCo-KabuildCo combination meant for us? Very simply, it means we grab a piece of all the action. So now we not only help demolish some pumping station, we get to rebuild it! We not only help take down a key ministry, we get to put it back up again! It's the same with roads, same with power grids, tunnels, harbors, what have you. It's like we say at the office, 'Blow a bridge, grow a bridge' -- and get paid at both ends! What could be better than that? "So let me leave you with this thought: In the 21st century, we will live in war, or we will live in peace. And the smart company will profit either way. "God bless America." Posted
4/24/03. Support the free-enterprise system -- tell your friends about
Rick!
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Rick Horowitz
