Medient Announces 2013 Year End Results and Chairman's Letter to the Shareholders
March 31 2014 - 5:06PM
Marketwired
Medient Announces 2013 Year End Results and Chairman's Letter to
the Shareholders
EFFINGHAM COUNTY, GA--(Marketwired - Mar 31, 2014) - Medient
Studios (OTCQB: MDNT) today announced its financial results for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 2013, which are available in the
Company's Form 10K report filed today with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
For the year ended December 31, 2013, the Company earned revenues
of $2,056,307 versus $3,267,825 for the preceding fiscal year. The
reduction in revenue reflects the Company's focus on establishing
the Studioplex and finalizing the legal contracts to secure the
property. The gross margin was $975,147 in 2013 compared with
$452,218 in 2012. The Company's losses increased from $117,630 to
$1,366,629 primarily due to increased operational expenses
associated with establishing the Studioplex. Medient's assets more
than doubled from $20,888,692 to $48,951,444 in 2013. Shareholders'
equity also increased by more than $3,000,000 to $16,667,630.
The Chairman of the Board, Manu Kumaran, also wrote the following
letter to the Company's stakeholders:
To those who believe...
"Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the
frosty light The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells,
and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new..."
Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote those words in 1850 to celebrate the
passing of a year. Today is Gudi Padwa, the New Year in many parts
of India and today we declare that there is light and freedom from
the endemic inefficiencies that plague the film production process.
Over the last 16 months Julio Saldarriaga and his team have been in
active conversations with a host of technology companies to design
a new work flow for producing movies and games. We asked ourselves
one question -- surely we don't have to be captive to work flow
systems designed in the 1920s? The world has changed in our
lifetime and yet the film industry still makes a human being to
carry a 30 pound light up 60 feet through a metal staircase. In the
very likely scenario that he needs to use the bathroom then the
entire unit could be waiting 20 minutes or more costing several
hundreds of thousands of dollars!
It is imperative, given the fact that capture, finishing and
output of films are all on digital platforms, to throw away the
outdated workflows of today and embrace a sophisticated and
redesigned workflow that utilises the very latest developments in
the technology arena. Films like Gravity have shown how
robotics can enhance the director's ability to create a world that
will elicit gasps of admiration from the audience. While several of
the individual processes draw on the very latest technologies the
clunky workflow ensures that the final product loses the
significant efficiencies that are generated.
Why can't these there be a synthesis of these various elements
in a wholly new work flow that will liberate our story tellers from
the constraints of the old while minimizing the production time and
thereby optimizing costs? Why didn't the aircraft manufacturer
include basic technology that exists in motor cars today, so that
black boxes can be found easier and the friends and relatives of
passengers on MH 370 wouldn't have endured the agony of the past 23
days. Why do we continue to ignore the crying need for
comprehensive reform in an industry that continues to lose money
every day?
The answers are in the questions. Human beings are creatures of
comfort and habit and nothing except the most extreme pain can
force change. But change we must and Medient will be at the
vanguard of creating a smarter way of making movies and games.
2013 was the year where we set down roots in Effingham County,
Georgia. Our home is a beautiful 1560 acres of woodland with a
pretty lake in the center of it all. Inspired by the beauty of the
land and the requirements of our unique plan our architect Shaleen
Sharma has designed a spectacular vision -- a mini township that
will unleash the much needed change in a rigid and custom bound
industry.
Construction will commence this year and we will have the first
set of sound stages functional by the end of the year. Our partner
in the construction of the Studioplex is Shore Development and
Construction, LLC and its President Jeremy Blackburn shares a lot
of our evangelical zeal and they will bring green, sustainable and
yet robust and cost efficient methods of construction to the
Studioplex. Graham Bradstreet and his team are working on sourcing
various additional government incentives to further reduce the net
cost of construction to us.
Our development team, led by Pankaj Kapoor have read over 400
scripts in the past year and have found the few great ones that we
will move into packaging and greenlight this year. Yogesh Ishwar
and his team are working on bringing in Indian films to shoot in
Georgia by providing production services with Medient managing
their tax credits.
Mahatma Gandhi wanted us to be the change that we seek in the
world and true to that spirit we are implementing a radical new
management structure in Medient. All internal designations and
hierarchy have been abolished. Our overall goals have been broken
down to "tasks" and "micro tasks" and "task teams" have been formed
to achieve those tasks which are led by people with that specific
skill set rather than traditional seniority. Megan Murphy and her
team are responsible for the implementation of the "Manifesto" and
it is expected that by the end of the year we will be able to align
compensation with performance on a real basis.
The induction of Charles Koppelman to our Board is a seminal
moment in our history. Charles is committed to helping the company
achieve its targets especially in our fund raising.
We have continued to reduce our debt and increase shareholder's
equity as we gear up for the monumental tasks that we have set out
to achieve and Jake Shapiro and his team have worked tirelessly to
keep the company moving forward.
While several important goals were reached in 2013, our share
price took a beating and our market value no longer reflects the
actual current real value or the immense potential of the future.
Clearly we have failed to communicate our potential or the strength
of our team to the investment community. Redressing this and
returning the company to a share price that is reflective of our
real value is one of our key immediate priorities. In this context
I want to address one issue that has repeatedly come in random
conversations (Oh! how I love twitter!) with several of our
shareholders -- dilution. I submit to you -- the owners of this
company, that every dollar that is being raised is employed to make
the company stronger. No one is buying houses or Ferraris with your
money. By cleaning up Yellow we have ensured that almost
all of the revenue from that brilliant movie will come in to the
company and will pay for SG&A and for more movies. We also need
to raise significant amounts of capital to build the Studioplex and
to produce other films. We are fully cognizant of our obligations
to the owners of the company but please recognize the fact that
this is not a "two men, a wild idea and a website" company. I am
personally in this with each one of you and believe with all of my
heart that my shares will be worth many times the $0.064 that I
paid for them.
It is my belief that we are on the verge of a significant
breakthrough and I promise you that 28 people in five different
cities in four countries are giving it their all to make the dream
come true.
On their behalf I thank all of you for your continued support
and belief.
Manu
Investor Relations: David Waldman or Natalya Rudman Crescendo
Communications, LLC Phone: +1 (212) 671-1020 Ext. 304 Email:
mdnt@crescendo-ir.com http://www.crescendo-ir.com/