SEC Company Response from ERF Wireless, Inc. (CIK 0001020646) — Oct 14, 2005
ERF Wireless, Inc. (CIK 0001020646)
Date: Oct. 14, 2005 · CIK: 0001020646 · Accession: 0001019687-05-002814
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 000-27467
Referenced dates: September 21, 2005
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October 14, 2005
Ms. Linda Cvrkel, Branch Chief
Mail Stop 3561
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
450 Fifth St., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re: ERF Wireless, Inc. (the "Company" or "ERF")
Amendment 2 to Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2004 Filed April 15, 2005
File No. 000-27467
Amendment 2 to Quarterly Report on Form 10-QSB for the quarter ended
June 30, 2005 Filed August 15, 2005
File No. 000-27467
Dear Ms. Cvrkel:
Please be advised the Company filed its Amendment No. 2 to Form 10-KSB/A
for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, and Amendment No. 2 to Form
10-QSB/A for the quarter ended June 30, 2005. The following are our responses to
your comment letter dated September 21, 2005. Our responses are numbered to
correspond with the numbered paragraphs included in your comment letter.
FORM 10-KSB FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2004
------------------------------------------------
MD&A
----
1. ERF confirms that we will be expanding our critical accounting
policies to address the following areas pointed out by the Commission,
utilizing Financial Reporting Policy 60 and Proposed Rule 33-8098, in
its future filings beginning with Form 10-QSB for the period September
30, 2005:
>> Types of assumptions underlying the most significant and
subjective estimates;
>> Sensitivity of those estimates to deviations of actual results
from management's assumptions; and
>> Circumstances that have resulted in revised assumptions in the
past.
Additionally, ERF confirms that we will be including a discussion of
long-lived assets within our critical accounting policies and
estimates section beginning in the same filing period referenced
immediately above.
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Note 1 - Basis of Presentation
------------------------------
- Nature of the Company, page 23
--------------------------------
2. ERF further amended its 10-KSB under Note 1 to the Financial
Statements under the heading "Nature of the Company" to revise its
disclosure to address the key considerations for reverse acquisition
accounting as outlined in paragraph 17 of SFAS No. 141, including
relative voting rights of the combined entity, the composition of the
governing body and the composition of senior management of the new
entity.
Basic Loss Per Share
--------------------
3. ERF amended its 10-KSB under Note 1 to the Financial Statements under
the heading "Basic Loss Per Share" to reflect the recalculated EPS on
the face of the financial statements of operations as a correction of
an error and marked the 2004 column on the statement of operations as
"Restated." Accordingly, our independent auditors also updated and
referred to the restated amount and related note in their audit
report. Further, ERF updated the last paragraph of the Basic Loss Per
Share section of Note 1 to present the appropriate accounting
treatment of earnings per share after a reverse acquisition, similar
to the language we previously provided in our response to Comment No.
12 of the Commission's August 17, 2005, Comment Letter.
Note 2. Change of Control
-------------------------
4. ERF amended its 10-KSB under Note 2 to also state that the acquisition
of both the common and preferred shares gave STJV a voting majority
and therefore there was a change of control of the Company.
Note 3. Debt Conversion
-----------------------
5. ERF has further amended Note 3 to the Financial Statements to clarify
that the appropriate accounting treatment related to the timing of
recognizing a deemed dividend for the beneficial conversion feature of
preferred stock is at the time that advances are received against the
Debt Conversion and Funding Agreement rather than at the time that the
Series A Convertible Preferred Shares are issued. The Company, in
determining such accounting treatment, has relied on Issue 4,
paragraph 16 of EITF 00-27: Application of Issue No. 98-5 to Certain
Convertible Instruments.
For additional information regarding this subject, the Company offers
the following:
>> The Company incorrectly calculated the beneficial conversion
charge for the three month periods consisting of October 1, 2004,
through December 31, 2004; January 1, 2005, through March 31,
2005; and April 1, 2005, through June 30, 2005, in that the
Company used the market price on the last day of each respective
period end rather than the market prices on the respective dates
that the advances were made during each such period.
Specifically, the Company previously indicated to the Commission
that the beneficial conversion calculations for the period ending
December 31, 2004; March 31, 2005; and June 30, 2005 were
$41,956,496, $35,014,882 and $57,790,194, respectively; using
period-end market prices of $4.30, $3.99 and $4.00 per share. The
Company determined that these beneficial conversion charges were
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incorrect and accordingly recalculated such charges using the
market prices on the dates of each respective advance during such
periods rather than the dates that the Series A Preferred shares
were deemed to be issued at each respective period end.
Accordingly, correct beneficial conversion charges for periods
ending December 31, 2004, March 31, 2005, and June 30, 2005, were
$66,396,692, $35,944,563 and $55,930,195, respectively.
>> Given that the deemed dividend related to the beneficial
conversion feature of preferred stock is limited to the value of
funds received against such convertible instruments, the actual
amounts recorded on the Company's financial statements for such
beneficial conversion charges were correct in all periods
reported despite the Company having incorrectly calculated the
beneficial conversion charges using quarter end market prices
rather than the actual market prices on the date of the advances.
>> Accordingly, the Company's financial statements accurately
present the deemed dividend related to the beneficial conversion
feature of preferred stock in all periods presented and the
Company has revised its disclosure in Note 3 to the Financial
Statements to specify its accounting treatment for recording a
deemed dividend related to the beneficial conversion feature of
preferred stock.
Note 5. Capital Stock
---------------------
6. The reverse merger with Fleetclean Systems Inc. was consummated with
several steps: (i) On May 15, 2004, STJV (Cubley family interests)
acquired from Fleetclean Systems Inc. 1,000,000 shares of Series A
Convertible Preferred Stock for $290,700; (ii) On May 28, 2004; STJV
purchased 143,800 (post-split) shares of common stock from the founder
and CEO of Fleetclean Systems Inc.; (iii) On September 20, 2004, the
Company completed a 1 for 75 reverse stock split, domicile change from
Texas to Nevada and a name change from Fleetclean Systems Inc. to ERF
Wireless Inc.; and (iv) On September 30, 2004, ERF Wireless Inc.
acquired Eagle R.F. Wireless Inc. (accounting acquirer) for 1,000,000
shares of common stock.
In accordance with SEC Practice Application of Reverse Purchase
Accounting paragraph 4 "Historical stockholders' equity of the
acquirer prior to the merger is retroactively restated (a
recapitalization) for the equivalent number of shares received in the
merger after giving effect to any difference in par value of the
issuer's and acquirer's stock with an offset to paid-in capital.
Retained earnings (deficiency) of the acquirer are carried forward
after the acquisition. Operations prior to the merger are those of the
acquirer. In the absence of nominal issuances, earnings per share for
periods prior to the merger are restated to reflect the number of
equivalent shares received by the acquiring company."
Accordingly, STJV (representing Cubley family interests) owned
1,000,000 shares of Series A preferred stock and 143,800 shares of
common stock of the combined entities that, when combined with Dr. H.
Dean Cubley and the three other shareholders of Eagle R. F.
International Inc.'s 1,000,000 shares of common stock obtained in the
acquisition, controlled 50.46% voting control of the Company;
therefore, STJV and the Cubley family interests have been
retroactively restated to December 31, 2002. We have accounted for the
transaction as a reverse acquisition and previously referred to EITF
90-13: Accounting for Simultaneous Common Control Mergers in our prior
response No. 15 because we believed it supported our treatment of our
four-step acquisition discussed in paragraph 1 as one single
transaction. Furthermore, if we did show the 1,000,000 shares of
Series A preferred stock as a May 2004 transaction, our Statement of
Cash Flows would be incorrect since ERF Wireless Inc. did not receive
any proceeds from this transaction.
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FORM 10-QSB FOR THE QUARTER ENDED JUNE 30, 2005
-----------------------------------------------
Note 12. Subsequent Events
--------------------------
7. ERF revised its disclosure in Note 12 to include the disclosures
outlined in paragraphs 51 and 52 of SFAS 141, to the extent
practicable, as the acquisition of Skyvue occurred after the balance
sheet date but prior to the issuance of the financial statements.
FORM 8-K DATED AUGUST 8, 2005
-----------------------------
8. ERF filed a Form 8-K/A on October 12, 2005, that includes the
information under Item 1.01 - Entry into a Material Definitive
Agreement concerning the entry into a material agreement on August 8,
2005, AND under Item 2.01 - Completion of Acquisition or Disposition
of Assets as it related to the closing on the acquisition of assets
from Skyvue USA East Central Texas Inc. on August 12, 2005. Since both
events occurred within four business days of each other, we elected to
report both items in the amended Form 8-K.
Other
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9. ERF inadvertently omitted including a statement in writing
acknowledging its responsibilities in connection with providing
responses to the Commissions comments. Accordingly, the Company
herewith with this filing acknowledges that:
>> the Company is responsible for the adequacy and accuracy of the
disclosures in its filings;
>> staff comments or changes to disclosure in response to staff
comments do not foreclose the Commission from taking any action
with respect to the filing; and
>> the Company may not assert staff comments as a defense in any
proceeding initiated by the Commission or any person under the
federal securities laws of the United States.
Very truly yours,
/s/ R. Greg Smith
ERF Wireless, Inc.
R. Greg Smith
Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer
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