valueinvestor82

I had a lawn maintenance business from age 11 through college, when I had my first business divesture and sold the contracts to one guy and the equipment to another in 2005. Along the way, I started with a CD at age 16 and then started reading, finally investing a few thousand in 2001 at 18 split between Select American Shares and Calamos Growth. 2003 my dad let me invest his savings and that begun my foray into individual stocks. I got fairly lucky and made a killing due to timing (AMR and XTO were big holdings, among others, riding those two to over 100% returns) and I'd say it took me until 2005 to really know what I was doing.

Book value declined slightly from Q to Q, albeit from already severely depressed levels thanks to SEDN. I'm curious to see the most recent 6 months of SEDNs filings, and the markets reaction (if one exists) once they catch up with OTC listing requirements and begin trading again. Probably the fact that it's still "half alive" should be net positive to the stock, and therefore accretive to PGNT at least to the tune of several hundred thousand dollars. The breakdown of SEDNs results to US/Latin America makes clear that most (or all) existing value rests in the Columbian business.

I'm a little late to this discussion, but I wanted to contribute an alternative view to the criticism that has been levied on Mr. Gad. First off, I totally understand and share the concern that arises when confronted by questionable past decisions and the resulting consequences. I think the qualitative difference and right of each person is to decide if they are or are not willing to do business with someone who made bad choices with money in the past. My own opinion is to trust if the person demonstrates sincerity, and can be vouched for by others, but verify and watch closely. As a shareholder of Paragon (PGNT) I looked into these matters thoroughly before making a significant investment, and I was somewhat surprised by the shocked reactions demonstrated on this board, only because numerous public documents and articles already existed about Sham's legal woes for those serious about doing research. I also would point out the following: 1) this is a question- someone threw out the $40,000 number. Where did this come from? 2) as a first time felony, Sham was eligible and received exoneration/dismissal of the conviction once it was demonstrated that he should not have plead guilty in the first place. Without getting into the weeds, the felony was thrown out and so he is not technically a convicted felon. I see this focus by the now dismissed SED board as deceiving at best. 3) getting back to my first paragraph, look at the PGNT board members and look at the reputable and great leadership team implemented at SI Systems. Also note that PGNT will complete it's first year of decent eps in quite some time. To me, this passes the smell test on acting in the interests of shareholders. 4) SEDs verdict is still out as far as the soundness of the investment. We can whine about the size of the investment and the board/CEO structure etc but it's nothing but opinion at this point until quantitative outcomes give us the ability to judge. Not to compare Sham to Biglari, only peoples perceptions of the two, but BH has made shareholders money, despite the criticism mounted at him. In summary, my attitude is give the guy more time and look at his limited track record as a steward of a public business, he's been an improvement at PGNT and I see no reason to doubt the same at SED.