With respect to our formulations, which are proprietary, we have patented our KH-30 oil well cleaner in the United States, Australia, Russia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Vietnam and OAPI. We also have 12 additional country patent applications pending in most of the major oil-producing countries around the world (including the European Union and Canada). We believe our patent is strong and will help our competitive position. However, we are aware that others may try to imitate our product or invalidate our patents. We have in the past vigorously enforced our trade secrets such as the one relating to our Uniproof proofing paper, and intend to continue to do so in the future. However, we recognize that intellectual property rights provide less than complete protection. We believe that no other company is currently producing a product similar to KH-30.
In addition to applying for patent protection on our KH-30 product, we have also registered “KH-30” as a trademark. Trademark protection has also been obtained for the “Uniproof” name for our proofing paper. We anticipate applying for both patent and trademark protection for our other products in those jurisdictions where we deem such protection to be beneficial.
Net Loss. The three months ended December 31, 2005 resulted in a net loss of $522,527 or $0.02 per share as compared to a net loss of $357,498 or $0.02 per share for the three months ended December 31, 2004. The average number of shares of common stock used in calculating earnings per share increased 3,370,996 shares to 25,782,241 as a result of 2,000,615 shares issued for the conversion of the note payable and interest payable, 1,275,000 shares issued in connection with the private placement and 300,000 shares issued in connection with the exercise of options.
Nine Months Ended December 31, 2005 Compared to the Nine Months Ended December 31, 2004
Revenues. Revenues for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2005 were $390,295, a $802,204 or 67% decrease from revenues of $1,192,499 in the comparable nine-month period ended December 31, 2004. The decrease in revenues was due to lower levels of specialty chemicals and Uniproof proofing paper sales during the nine months ended December 31, 2005. Specialty Chemicals, which includes sales of our KH-30 products and Green Globe/Qualchem products, decreased by $359,703 to $283,554, or 56% compared to $643,257 in the comparable nine month period ended December 31, 2004. The decrease was primarily related to a 63% decrease in sales of our KH-30 family of oil field dispersant products reflecting a lower level of orders partially offset by a 20% increase in Green Globe/Qualchem military sales. Uniproof proofing paper sales decreased $442,501 to $106,741, or 81% compared to $549,242 in the comparable nine month period ended December 31, 2005. The decrease was primarily related to fewer orders from our primary customer.
Cost of Goods Sold. Cost of goods sold decreased 58% to $250,504 or 64% of sales, for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2005 from $589,893 or 49% of sales, for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2004. The decrease in cost of goods sold and higher percentage of sales was due to the lower sales level.
Gross Profit. Gross profit for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2005 was 36% or $139,791, a $462,815 or 77% decrease from a 51% gross profit or $602,606 in the corresponding period of fiscal 2004. The decrease in gross profit and gross profit percentage reflect the lower levels of sales of specialty chemicals and Uniproofing paper.
Operating Costs and Expenses
Selling, general and Administrative Expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased $471,319, or 24% to $2,409,362, or 6,173% of revenues for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2005 from $1,938,043, or 163% of revenues for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2004. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily related to an increase in salaries due to the exercise of options, benefits and bad debts partially offset by a decrease in professional fees and travel and entertainment.
Depreciation and Amortization. Depreciation and amortization decreased by $10,052 or 16% to $51,986 for the nine months ended December 31, 2005 as compared to $62,038 for the nine months ended December 31, 2004. The decrease was due to the Company’s use of an accelerated method of depreciation, offset by a slight increase in fixed assets.
Interest Expense. The Company had interest expense of $576,894 for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2005 compared with interest expense of $208,361 in the corresponding period in 2004. The increase was due to the additional warrants issued to the holder of the convertible term note issued in February 2005 and satisfied in August 2005.
Net Loss. The nine-month period ended December 31, 2005 resulted in a net loss of $2,898,419 or $0.12 per share compared to a net loss of $1,598,052 or $0.07 per share for the comparable period ended December 31, 2004. The average number of shares of common stock used in calculating earnings per share increased by 2,481,697 to 24,791,025 shares at December 31, 2005 compared with 22,309,328 at December 31, 2004 as a result of 2,000,615 shares issued for the conversion of the note payable and interest payable, 1,275,000 shares issued in connection with the private placement and 300,000 shares issued in connection with the exercise of options.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2005, the Company had $83,658 in cash and cash equivalents, as compared to $365,610 at March 31, 2005.
The $281,952 decrease in cash and cash equivalents was due to net cash used in operating activities of $1,030,108, net cash used in investing activities of $56,577, partially offset by net cash provided by financing activities of $804,733. Cash used in investing activities consisted of employee loans of $22, $25,846 related to patent applications for KH-30 and the S-2 technology and the purchase of production equipment and other fixed assets of $30,709. Cash provided by financing activities consisted of proceeds from related parties of $200,000, proceeds from the exercise of stock options of $345,000, proceeds from the issuance of common stock of $380,000, the receipt of stock subscription receivable of $13,333, partially offset by the payment of related party payable of $133,600.
During the nine months ended December 31, 2005, the Company issued 4.75 additional Series A Unit or 475,000 shares of its common stock for a purchase price of $380,000 as per the securities purchase agreement dated March 18, 2005.
During January 2006, the Company issued the remaining 7.25 units or 725,000 shares of its common stock for a purchase price of $580,000 as per the securities purchase agreement dated March 18, 2005.
On January 26, 2006, the Company entered into the First Amendment to the securities agreement dated March 18, 2005. The agreement was scheduled to expire on its first anniversary, March 18, 2006. The amendment changes that date to the earlier of March 18, 2008 or thirty (30) days after notice of termination from the holder of a majority of the shares issued under the agreement. For the period beginning on the date of the amendment through June 30, 2007, the consent of the majority holder is required for the Company to do any of the following:
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| (i) contract for equity financing or debt financing with an equity component or issue any equity securities or securities convertible to equity; |
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| (ii) incur indebtedness in excess of $250,000 other than trade debt in the ordinary course of business; |
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| (iii) merge or consolidate or sell, transfer or license our assets outside of the ordinary course of business; |
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| (iv) enter into an operating or capital lease in a transaction or series of transactions with annual payments in excess of $250,000; |
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| (v) make capital expenditures in excess of $125,000 per fiscal year; |
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| (vi) grant exclusive distribution rights with respect to any of our products; or |
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| (vii) permit any of our officers to sign or endorse any check, note, draft or other form of indebtedness in excess of $5,000 without the prior written authority of our Chairman. |
We also agreed that from the date of the amendment through March 18, 2009 we will not negotiate or contract for a future offering without first providing to the investors a ten-day right of first refusal to participate in the future offering. To the extent the investors choose not to participate, we will then have 60 days to complete the future offering without re-offering the investors the right to participate.
During the period from the date of the amendment through March 18, 2008, the majority holder has the right to designate someone to receive notices of our Board of Directors meetings and attend as an observer.
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For so long as the investors hold 1,500,000 shares of common stock equivalents (meaning shares of common stock and other securities convertible to or exercisable for common stock), the majority holder shall have the right to designate a majority of the members of our Board of Directors in the event of any of the following, referred to as triggering events:
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| (i) if we fail to have gross revenue of at least $5,000,000 for the six months ending September 30, 2006; |
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| (ii) if we breach any of our representations, warranties, agreements, covenants, terms or obligations under the securities purchase agreement or ancillary agreements; or |
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| (iii) if the investors purchase an aggregate of twenty-one or more Series B Units |
As of December 31, 2005 the Company had no backlog. Backlog represents products that the Company’s customers have committed to purchase. The Company’s backlog is subject to fluctuations and is not necessarily indicative of future sales.
During the past two fiscal years ended March 31, 2005 and 2004, the Company has recorded aggregate losses from operations of $4,423,974 and has incurred total negative cash flow from operations of $3,801,148 for the same two-year period. During the nine months ended December 31, 2005, the Company experienced a net loss from operations of $2,898,419 and negative cash flow from operating activities of $1,030,108. The Company does not currently have an operating line of credit. These matters raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Company’s consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
The Company’s continued existence is dependent upon several factors, including increased sales volume, collection of existing receivables and the ability to achieve profitability from the sale of the Company’s product lines. In order to increase its cash flow, the Company is continuing its efforts to stimulate sales and cut back expenses not directly supporting its sales and marketing efforts.
Concentration of Risk
The Company sells its Uniproof proofing paper to three customers. One of these customers constitutes 99% of Graphic Arts sales and 27% of total customer sales for the nine months period ended December 31, 2005. The loss of this customer would have adverse financial consequences to the Company. We have provided liberal credit terms to this customer and there is a risk that a certain amount of this receivable balance may prove to be uncollectible. The Company believes that this customer will purchase additional product and the Company would use that as leverage to collect any outstanding balances.
Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
The Company is not subject to market risk as there are no outstanding loans as of December 31, 2005.
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Item 3. | Controls and Procedures. |
Evaluation of the Company’s Disclosure Controls
As of the end of the period covered by this report, the Company has evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of its disclosure controls and procedures (“disclosure controls”). This evaluation (the “controls evaluation”) was done under the supervision and participation of the Company’s management, including its chief executive officer (the “CEO”) and interim chief financial officer (the “CFO”). Rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission require that in this section of the report the Company present the conclusions of its CEO and CFO about the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls based on and as of the dated of the controls evaluation.
CEO and CFO Certifications
Appearing as exhibits 31.1 and 31.2 to this report are “Certifications” of the CEO and CFO. The certifications are required pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Section 302 Certifications”). This section of this report contains information concerning the controls evaluation referred to in the Section 302 Certifications and this information should be read in conjunction with the Section 302 Certifications for a more complete understanding of the topics presented.
Disclosure Controls
Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in the Company’s reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act, such as this report, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including, without limitation, the CEO and CFO, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls
The Company’s management, including, without limitation, the CEO and CFO, does not expect that the Company’s disclosure controls will prevent all error and fraud. A control system no matter how well conceived and operated can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations of all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company have been detected.
Scope of Controls Evaluation
The CEO/CFO evaluation of the Company’s disclosure controls included a review of the controls’ objective and design, the controls’ implementation by the Company and the effect of the controls on the information generated for use in this report. In the course of the controls evaluation, management sought to identify data errors, controls problems or acts of fraud and to confirm that appropriate corrective action, including process movements, was being undertaken. This type of evaluation will be done on a quarterly basis so that the conclusions concerning controls effectiveness can be reported in the Company’s quarterly reports on Form 10-QSB and annual report on Form 10-KSB. The overall goals of these various review and evaluation activities are to monitor the Company’s disclosure controls and to make modifications, as necessary. In this regard, the Company’s intent is that the disclosure controls will be maintained as dynamic controls systems that change (including improvements and corrections) as conditions warrant.
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Conclusions
Based upon the controls evaluation, the Company’s CEO and CFO have concluded that, as of the end of the period covered by this report, the Company’s disclosure controls are effective to provide reasonable assurance that information required to be disclosed in the Company’s reports filed under the Securities Exchange Act such as this report, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms.
There has been no change in the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting during the fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2005, that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the Company’s internal controls over financial reporting.
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PART II
OTHER INFORMATION
See Note 7, Commitments and Contingencies to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
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Item 2. | Changes in Securities and Use of Proceeds |
Not Applicable
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Item 3. | Defaults upon Senior Securities |
Not Applicable
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Item 4. | Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders |
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
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| | 31.1 | Written Statement of the Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350 Sec. 302 |
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| | 31.2 | Written Statement of the Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350 Sec. 302 |
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| | 32.1 | Written Statement of the Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350 Sec. 906 |
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| | 32.2 | Written Statement of the Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §1350 Sec. 906 |
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United Energy Corp.
FORM 10-QSB
December 31, 2005
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Small Business issuer has duly caused this Report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
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Dated: February 13, 2006 | | UNITED ENERGY CORP. |
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| By: | /s/ Brian King |
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| | Brian King, Chief Executive Officer |
| | (as principal executive officer) |
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| By: | /s/ James McKeever |
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|
| | James McKeever, |
| | Interim Chief Financial Officer |
| | (as principal financial and accounting officer) |
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