New York, NY, Dec. 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Weyland Tech Inc. (OTCQX: WEYL) (“Weyland” or the “Company”) discusses the recent share price decline and insight on business operations.
The Company has recently disclosed, among other things, the advancement of its AtoZPay subsidiary business and related stock spin-off as well as a significant increase in year over year revenue and gross margins from 2017 to 2018. Despite these business developments the market price of its common stock is very close to a 52-week low of $0.55. The Company believes that the share price decline is primarily related to shareholders taking advantage of Rule 144 to remove restrictive legends on an unusually large number of shares during the last six months.
These shareholders participated in private placements in 2015, 2016 and early 2017 and, as a result, could have generally removed restrictive legends and deposited their shares in brokerage accounts for sale six months following their respective purchases during 2015, 2016 and 2017. Many of such shares were deposited and sold, however, many of those shareholders, who purchased at prices from a low of .50 and a high of 4.80 during 2015 to 2017, held their shares until recently. As a result, the Company’s average daily volume has increased to 98,810 shares over last 30 days.
Comparatively, during January 2018, our average daily volume was approximately 22,000 shares (and the average closing price during the month was over $5.00 per share). According the to the OTCMarkets’ Annual Market Review for 2017, the average daily volume of companies’ shares listed on the OTCQX during 2017 was 22,500 shares.
As a result, the Company believes that the decline in our stock price is related primarily to an unusually high number of shares becoming available for public sale, and in fact, being sold as evidenced by the anomalistic increase in daily volume. So, the supply of shares on the market has been temporarily higher than the reasonably expected demand for our shares. We expect this market sales pressure to diminish during 2019 as we anticipate fewer shares becoming available for public sale than in 2018, and we expect our daily volume to return to an amount closer to historical levels over the longer term.
We note that Morningstar cites the Company as “undervalued” with a fair value of $1.33 in its December 27, 2018, Quantitative Equity Research Report.
Brent Suen, Chief Executive Officer comments: “I’ve purchased 111,000 shares this year in the open market at prices ranging from $1.15 to a high of $2.40 and these shares are under a Company-imposed two year rolling lock-up. Additionally, the last time our market capitalization was at this level was Q1 2016 when quarterly revenues were around $2.2 million compared to Q3 2018 when the Company reported revenue of $8.3 million. Operationally, the Company is progressing well and the pipeline for new business is better than we’ve seen at any previous point in time. Furthermore, although we are trading on the highest level of the OTC Markets, the OTCQX, we are still not an institutionally driven name in the mobile applications industry sector. That being said, our average daily volume is much higher now than during the past four years of my involvement. Further an uplist to a higher profile market such as the NYSE/MKT or NASDAQ Capital Market remains our stated goal and would open up the visibility for investment in our shares to an entirely new audience of investors unable to buy stocks on Non-Exchange markets.
“Although the recent share price decline has been challenging and frustrating for shareholders both new and from prior years, the business opportunities in the markets where we operate is continuing to grow at a level unprecedented in emerging markets on whole. Our management team has never been more enthused than at this time, and that includes experience through multiple growth industries and technology ‘boom’ cycles.”
The Company operates in a fiercely competitive environment where funding is the key to growth and expansion. To date, that funding has been driven almost exclusively by private placement fundings dating back to mid 2015. Given that legal restrictions on the sale of 144A placements is six months, we believe early investors have exercised patience in holding their shares over the years.
As we progress to a more senior exchange we expect to reduce the reliance on such placements as we focus increasingly on strategic and institutional funding sources. The Company believes strongly that investment in its current projects is timely and further that the combination of organic growth of our PaaS platform as well as the value of current and future ownership stakes in other investments will generate significant shareholder value during 2019.
About Weyland Tech Inc.
Weyland Tech is a global provider of mobile business applications. Its CreateApp platform offers a mobile presence to businesses in emerging markets, with partnerships on 3 continents and growing. This DIY mobile application platform, offered in 14 languages with over 35 integrated modules, enables small and medium sized businesses (“SMB’s”) to create native mobile applications (“apps”) for Apple’s iOS and Google Android without technical knowledge or background, empowering SMB’s to increase sales, reach more customers and promote their products and services in an easy, affordable and efficient manner.
In May 2018, the Company expanded its portfolio to fintech applications with the launch of its AtozPay mobile payments platform. The mobile wallet launched in the worlds 4th most populous country, Indonesia, and is already experiencing rapid growth in transactions taking place on the platform.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains certain “forward-looking statements” relating to the business of the Company. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are “forward-looking statements” including statements regarding: the continued growth of the e-commerce segment and the ability of the Company to continue its expansion into that segment; the ability of the Company to attract customers and partners and generate revenues; the ability of the Company to successfully execute its business plan; the business strategy, plans, and objectives of the Company; and any other statements of non-historical information. These forward-looking statements are often identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “expects” or similar expressions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company’s actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including those discussed in the Company’s periodic reports that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on its website (http://www.sec.gov). All forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these factors. Other than as required under the securities laws, the Company does not assume any duty to update these forward-looking statements.
CONTACT: For further information contact: Howard Gostfrand American Capital Ventures, Inc. President Office: 305-918-7000 Email: hg@amcapventures.com www.amcapventures.com