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GSHF GSHF GREENSHIFT CORP OTCBB Veridium Issues Letter to Shareholders
MOUNT ARLINGTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2005--Veridium Corporation ("Veridium") (OTC Bulletin Board: VRDM) chairman, Kevin Kreisler, issued the following correspondence to its shareholders today:
Dear Shareholders:
We are planning a number of significant changes to our business model that I am confident will have an immediate term positive impact on our company and I appreciate the opportunity to provide you with an update on these changes here.
First, and by way of background, the market for recyclable hazardous wastes has changed markedly over the past several quarters and years, to the point where the recyclable metal-bearing hazardous wastes we are seeing today have decreasing concentrations of less valuable metals. This is mainly due to a decline in overall manufacturing activity in the North Eastern U.S. and, despite our best efforts, this has resulted in continued losses at our New Jersey based recycling facility. We had intended to invest in additional infrastructure for this operation in response to these changed market conditions, but our most-likely scenario projections show that such an investment would take an impractically long time to recover. We have therefore decided not to pursue further capital expansion at this facility and to shut this location down in a rational, safe, compliant and cost-effective manner that is not disruptive to our clients.
That said, the management of industrial wastes is still a multi-billion dollar market here in the U.S. and is still a global issue. I continue to believe that the founding purpose Veridium - to recycle industrial wastes - is a timely and much needed activity in today's resource scarce economy. I very much believe therefore that Veridium's business model needs to change in response to the changed market conditions to address the compelling challenge of recycling industrial wastes in a commercially viable way.
This will require nothing short of a transformation and revitalization of our business model - which is precisely what we intend to do.
Historically, our recycling model was essentially based on picking-up qualified metal-bearing wastes from our clients and distributing those wastes to our technology and our facility for recycling. Moving forward, we are simply going to reverse this and bring our technology to the sources of industrial wastes.
This, however, is a Technology-Centric approach that conflicts with the operational, financial and other requirements of our traditional Services-Centric environmental services business. Our services group is a solid business with an excellent employee base and valuable clients, and it is generating revenues of about $14 million per year and about $1.5 million in EBITDA. Its management team is exceptional and the overall business contributes materially to our value. Its growth goals and needs just clearly in my view diverge from the requirements of the technology driven path that I strongly believe Veridium needs to be on.
Additionally, and as many of you may know, I am also the chairman and chief executive officer of GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GSHF), a publicly traded business development company that owns about 60% of Veridium. GreenShift's mission is to develop and support companies and technologies that facilitate the efficient use of natural resources and contribute to the resolution of environmental challenges. GreenShift has invested in excess of $3 million in Veridium in the past year and has directly and indirectly made available a number of innovative and flexible financing and strategic alternatives that have the potential to completely refinance Veridium's debt and streamline Veridium's costs in ways that can increase Veridium's earnings and overall shareholder value. I believe that moving forward with these financing and strategic alternatives will unlock the value of Veridium's services group and catalyze its growth while separately revitalizing the development of our technology model.
Perfecting all of the above requires a complete overhaul of Veridium. Accordingly, I recently asked for and received the resignations of Veridium's directors and officers as a prelude to implementation of the following key initiatives:
-- First, Veridium will immediately seek to refinance its debt and streamline its general and administrative costs leveraging GreenShift and the financial and strategic alternatives discussed above. Importantly, my expectation is that these steps will put Veridium into immediate profitability when taken with the savings we realize by shutting down our recycling facility.
-- Second, Veridium's services group will complete a reverse merger transaction with a existing non-operating publicly traded company that GreenShift currently owns. Upon completion of this transaction, Veridium will hold a 90% stake in the new public company which will seek to grow primarily through a standard roll-up strategy using the new company's own capital structure. James Green will serve as the new company's president and chief executive officer, Steve Powers will be the new company's chief operating officer, and Michael Desrosiers will serve as the new company's chief financial officer.
-- Finally, Veridium will immediately seek to acquire technologies and companies that are compatible with Veridium's new technology-centric focus while it phases its current recycling facility into an orderly shut-down. I will serve as Veridium's acting chief executive officer until I can locate qualified additional management, which I hope to do in connection with future acquisitions.
We have already made significant headway on each of these initiatives and we will provide additional information relative to each in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, know that I am very excited about these changes and I am quite confident that they will lead to immediate and long-term increases to our intrinsic value and, derivatively, our overall shareholder wealth.
As always, I appreciate your continued interest and support. Thank you and I will look forward to providing you with further updates shortly.
Best Regards,
Kevin Kreisler Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Veridium Corporation
About Veridium Corporation Veridium is an environmental management company providing a variety of services to a broad client base in both the private and public sectors with a specialization in the recycling and reuse of industrial hazardous wastes. Our services include collection and transportation of industrial wastes, site remediation, and recycling of metal-bearing and chemical wastes. Our focus is to provide our clients with value-added, environmentally conscious and cost-effective hazardous waste management services based on our efficient managing of wastes and use of green technologies. Additional information on Veridium and its business model is available online at www.veridium.com.
Approximately 60% of the capital stock of Veridium is owned by GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GSHF), a business development corporation whose mission is to develop and support companies and technologies that facilitate the efficient use of natural resources and catalyze transformational environmental gains.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Veridium Corporation and members of their management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-statements include fluctuation of operating results, the ability to compete successfully and the ability to complete before-mentioned transactions. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
CONTACT: Investor Relations Veridium Corporation Phone: 973-942-7700 Fax: 973-942-7527 Email: investorrelations@veridium.com Web: www.veridium.com or CEOcast, Inc. Ed Lewis, 212-732-4300
SOURCE: Veridium Corporation
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