SEC Comment Letter for Proguard Acquisition CORP (CIK 0001300662) — May 3, 2005
Proguard Acquisition CORP (CIK 0001300662)
Date: May 3, 2005 · CIK: 0001300662 · Accession: 0000000000-05-021597
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File numbers found in text: 333-123910
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<DOCUMENT> <TYPE>LETTER <SEQUENCE>1 <FILENAME>filename1.txt <TEXT> Mail Stop 3-09 May 3, 2005 Ricardo A. Rivera Director Proguard Acquisition Corp. 3040 E. Commercial Blvd. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33308 Re: Proguard Acquisition Corp. Registration Statement on Form SB-2 File Number 333-123910 Dear Mr. Rivera: We have reviewed your filing and have the following comments. Where indicated, we think you should revise your document in response to these comments. If you disagree, we will consider your explanation as to why our comment is inapplicable or a revision is unnecessary. Please be as detailed as necessary in your explanation. In some of our comments, we may ask you to provide us with supplemental information so we may better understand your disclosure. After reviewing this information, we may or may not raise additional comments. Please understand that the purpose of our review process is to assist you in your compliance with the applicable disclosure requirements and to enhance the overall disclosure in your filing. We look forward to working with you in these respects. We welcome any questions you may have about our comments or on any other aspect of our review. Feel free to call us at the telephone numbers listed at the end of this letter. FORM SB-2 General 1. As this offering is self-underwritten, please consider whether those who will be selling the securities need to be registered as broker-dealers. For example, do they fit within the safe harbor of Rule 3a4-1 of the Exchange Act? If so, please identify the individuals who will be selling and explain how they fit this safe harbor. 2. It appears your company may have been organized in the past five years. If so, please provide the information required by Item 404(d) of Regulation S-B to the extent applicable. See Item 15 of Form SB- 2. Risk Factors, page 6 3. We note from page 17 that you do not intend to pay dividends. Please include a risk factor regarding this issue. The risk factor should disclose that any gain from an investment in your company will come from an increase in the market price, which may not occur. 4. Please add two separate risk factors regarding the following: * Holders of the warrants will only be able to exercise them if you maintain an effective registration statement and qualify the warrants in the state of residence of the holder. Please disclose your intentions regarding keeping the prospectus current as well as qualifying the warrants for exercise in any states. Finally, identify the states in which you will qualify them, if you intend to do so. * The holders of the warrants may not be able to exercise their warrants if you exercise your right to redeem them two years after they are issued. If the terms of the warrants do not require that your common stock trade at a certain price level for a period of time before you can call the warrants, you should provide disclosure. If they do, you should also provide disclosure as to these terms. Finally, state whether you would call the warrants for redemption at a time when you were not maintaining a current prospectus for exercise of the warrants. We do not meet the requirements for our stock to be quoted on NASDAQ . . . , page 6 5. Please briefly summarize the principal obstacles keeping your stock from being eligible for listing on Nasdaq or on an exchange. Future sales by our stockholders could cause the stock price to decline, page 7 6. Please disclose whether any of your outstanding shares are subject to restrictions on sales pursuant to Rule 144. If so, disclose the number of shares and when the restrictions expire. You will experience immediate dilution of at least 75% of your investment . . . , page 7 7. Please revise this risk factor to explain that investors who purchase shares will contribute ___% of the total amount to fund the company but will own only ___% of the outstanding share capital and ___% of the voting rights. Our cash balance in banks and brokerage firms may exceed . . . , page 7 8. As currently written, this risk factor could apply to any issuer or any offering. If you keep this risk factor, please revise it so it more specifically addresses your situation. Also, if you keep the risk factor, please revise it to clarify that the FDIC does not insure brokerage accounts. Also, list the principal banks and brokerage firms where you keep your funds. We are dependent on Frank R. Bauer . . . , page 7 9. Please discuss any difficulties you have had in attracting and retaining qualified personnel. Our major competitors could negatively impact our revenues . . . , page 8 10. If your business has been hampered by a competitor expanding into one of your target markets, please disclose the situation. Also, please disclose what your target markets are. We lose some of our customers over time . . . , page 8 11. The heading for this risk factor refers to restructuring, but the body of the risk factor does not discuss restructuring. Please expand the risk factor to explain how restructuring may cause a decrease in customers. 12. Please explain what it means to "integrate" and "adequately service" an account. Our customer acquisition strategies may not be successful . . . , page 8 13. We note that you have changed your acquisition strategy over the past few years to decrease the cost of adding customers and to decrease the rate of attrition from new accounts. Please explain the principal changes you have made. 14. We note that your "customer base could continue to decline." Is your overall customer base currently declining? If so, please state this fact in the risk factor heading, and revise the risk factor to state when your customer base began to decline, the approximate number of customers you had at that time, and the approximate number of customers you currently have. Increased adoption of non-response or verification-required policies . . . , page 9 15. Please expand this risk factor to provide more detail in the following areas: * Disclose your actual false alarm rate. * Explain what you will need to do in response to the new laws, regulations, and policies that could increase your costs. * Clarify how your costs will increase as you monitor, evaluate, and attempt to affect the outcome of these initiatives. For example, do you have an active lobbying effort? * If your business has already experienced difficulties caused by increased regulation, please discuss the situation and state the approximate increased expense you incurred. * Finally, if any regulatory matter on pages 14-15 that is not discussed in this risk factor gives rise to a material risk, please discuss it. We are susceptible to macroeconomic downturns which may negatively impact . . . , page 9 16. As currently written, this risk factor could apply to any issuer or any offering. Please make it more specific to your situation. For example, is your business or industry more susceptible to economic conditions than other businesses or industries are? If so, please explain how. Business, page 10 17. Please state your form and year of organization, as required by Item 101(a)(1) of Regulation S-B. Also, consider including your web address in the filing. See Item 101(c)(3) of Regulation S-B. 18. We note in the first paragraph of this section that you provide environmental security systems. Please explain what an environmental security system is. 19. Please explain Proguard Protection`s history in more detail. For example, what were its operations prior to July 1, 2004? What is the current status of the previous shareholders? We note the disclosure in note 2 to the financial statements on page 42 that the shareholders cancelled their 1,000,000 shares in exchange for 395,000 shares of the registrant`s stock. Please disclose in the Business section of your document this information and any other information necessary for a basic understanding of how your business has grown and evolved. 20. Please file as an exhibit the agreement related to the reverse acquisition transaction. 21. Please disclose the approximate percentage of your business that comes from fire alarms, intrusion alarms, and environmental security systems. Compare the profitability of each type of system. Customer Contracts, page 10 22. Rather than using subjective terms such as "most" and "typically," state the number of customers who have signed contracts for two years, three years, four years, and five years. State how many customers have signed alarm monitoring contracts with extended service protection and without this protection, and state how many customers have signed up for line security based on cellular technology. Finally, compare the profitability of these additional features. 23. We note you are "large enough to serve customers` needs." Please clarify whether the word "large" refers to the number of customers, revenues, employees, etc. Also, disclose why being large enhances your ability to serve customers` needs. 24. We note your subsidiary is licensed in Colorado "and various counties." Please disclose in which states the various counties are located. 25. With each organization whose industry standards you meet, please disclose the organization`s principal criteria. 26. Please expand the discussion of each component of your business model to provide additional detail. For example: * How do you define "excellent customer service" in your industry, and what specific things does your company do to meet this definition? * Are the customer service representatives, repairmen, and sales representatives employees of your company, or do you contract for these services? * What is a "Level Three General Electric national account rating," and what must a company do to achieve this rating? How many other ratings does General Electric have, and where does level three rank? 27. We note that among your keys to success are "local company office," "local employees," and "local merchant affiliation." * Please define what you believe to be your geographic markets. * State whether you have an office in each of these markets, and state how many customer service and repair personnel are stationed in each market. * Explain what a "local merchant affiliation" is and how it benefits your business. Also, identify your principal merchant affiliations. 28. We note you have state of the art technology. Please discuss the characteristics of your technology that make it state of the art. 29. We note your industry is a "new industry undeveloped in area." Please discuss this point in more detail. For example, how far away is your nearest competitor? Are there any substantial barriers to entry if a competitor decides to attempt to enter your area? Also, you state in the next section that the Pitkin, Garfield, and Eagle county areas are serviced by a few alarm companies, and you refer on page 13 to "several local competitors." Since there are other companies, please clarify how you are defining "undeveloped." Security Systems and Services, page 13 30. Please describe each of your services and products in more detail. For example, describe the advantages and limitations of each. State the percentage of your revenues attributable to each one. 31. It appears your business may be substantially dependent upon your contract with GE, especially considering that your level three GE rating is a part of your business model. If you have any material written agreements with GE, please file them as exhibits and discuss their material terms in the body of your filing. See Item 601(b)(10) of Regulation S-B. Use of Proceeds, page 16 32. We note you plan to use $100,000 of the proceeds to discharge long-term debt. Please state the interest rate and maturity of this debt. If the debt was incurred less than a year ago, describe the use of the proceeds of that debt other than short-term borrowings used for working capital. See Instruction 1 to Item 504 of Regulation S-B. 33. Also, please identify the party to whom you owe the debt. If the creditor is an affiliate of your company, you should explain the affiliation. If the proceeds will first go to pay indebtedness owed to an affiliate, you should also consider a separate risk factor. 34. We note you plan to purchase new accounts with the offering proceeds. To the extent known, please identify the seller of these accounts and discuss any terms of the sale that have been determined. 35. Please identify with more specificity what you mean by "working capital." How will these funds be used, and how much will be spent on each use? 36. We note the disclosure that you may use a NASD registered broker/dealer to sell the offering. Please be aware that if you do so, you will need to amend the filing post-effectively to identify the broker/dealer, seek approval of the underwriting or sales arrangements with the NASD, and engage an escrow agent to hold funds if they have not already reached their minimum of $300,000. You would also need to file the sales or underwriting agreement and the executed escrow agreement as an exhibit and identify the escrow agent in the post-effective amendment. Management`s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, page 18 37. To better understand your reported results of operations, please disclose your critical accounting estimates. Please refer to Release No. FR-72. For example, please discuss the following: a) What activities result in deferred income and how does management determine the amounts to recognize in current periods as well as the amounts to defer? On page 11, you disclose that "b) typically, customers sign alarm monitoring contracts that include a bundled monthly charge for monitoring and extended service protection." Please disclose how you allocate the bundled monthly charges to the various revenue activities. Trends and Uncertainties, page 18 38. You assert in your discussion of investing activities that your "cash flow should increase due to the fact that [you] will receive an aggregate of $2,270 in monthly fees" from your purchase of contracts in 2004. The assertion that you will receive $2,270 in monthly fees, or approximately $27,000 per year, assumes no cancellations by the customers. Please discuss the uncertainties relating to customer cancellations of existing contracts. Financing Activities, page 18 39. It appears the $87,750 in proceeds from the sale of 1,755,000 common shares in 2004 significantly impacted your cash position and equity. Considering the lack of a public market for your common shares, as well as the material impact of this change in equity and cash position, please expand your discussion to disclose the facts and circumstances related to this financing and the relationship of the investors to Protective. 40. We note the discussion of the note from Corrections Systems International. Please consider whether this note should be filed pursuant to Item 601(b)(10) of Regulation S-B. If you do not believe it needs to be filed, please provide us with a supplemental analysis supporting your determination. Results of Operations, page 18 41. You disclose that sales increased significantly in 2004 "due to increased operations and the purchase of the security monitoring contracts." Please expand your discussion to provide meaningful analysis and insight as to how and why sales increased for each type of revenue line item. Please revise your discussion of other statement of operations line items, accordingly. Persons Beneficially Owning More than 5% of Outstanding Common Stock, page 23 42. Please disclose that the beneficial ownership table includes shares that the shareholders have the right to acquire within 60 days. See Rule 13d-3(d)(1)(i) under the Exchange Act. 43. Please identify the natural person(s) who controls Plymouth Capital. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, page 24 44.