SunbitsSass Peress – CEO of ICP Solar – Solar Blog

Many investors have been wondering what is the big deal about the merger agreement we have signed. Where does it lead ICP? What happens to the consumer goods in light of a solar farm/rooftop focus.

The fact is that as a company engaged in small consumer goods, affording the publico costs, processes and requirements for disclosure put us at a significant disadvantage to our competitors. So a merger with an entity which has significant pipeline in solar farms, and therefore projected cash flow positive realities, makes perfect sense. It permits me (no longer CEO after 21 years) to focus on what I love to do…create award winning consumer directed solar chargers, while the responsibilities and tasks of a public company CEO and Chairman are passed on.

We are excited about this merger, and hope to announce its closing in the near future. Whatever happens, it has changed our sentiment on the future and permitted us to get goods flowing again. That in itself was tenuous in early Fall, and now is assured. It will take a while to get things fixed, yet I have a feeling that with the Energizer(R) company by our side, and this new partnership, and my resignation from the position for which I am not suited (at this time) to hold, I believe that the merged entities are looking at a great opportunity to create shareholder value beyond anything in the past.

Sass

This is a youtube video of John Crawford, technology guru at Energizer, talking about Energizer’s various offerings in the solar sphere, including our own charging kits.

The response at CES was tremendous, even though we chose not to exhibit this year. The fact is that even Energizer no longer exhibits at the show and I believe we were redeemed by using a “virtual launch” instead. There are smarter ways to spend money than on freight, booth models and electrical hookups to promote the program.

Sass

The new www.energizersolar.com website went live today. Its a view of good things to come in the renewables sector. Energizer(R) itself announced a range of solar powered lights last night at Digital Media Conference. Its looking like a sunny year to come…

The most efficient retail outlet for consumer goods selected a few of our Energizer(R) brand products for their stores next year, with more to come online. Its a great feeling that this move is the right one for ICP Solar and its consumers. The Energizer(R) brand brings credibility and confidence by consumers who are first time buyers of solar and want to be assured that the company behind the product is serious.

Costco Canada has been a long-time client, yet this program is different in that its also going to be better managed. I won’t give the details, yet ICP Solar hired the right team to make this happen and to manage moving forward, as witnessed by the fact that we got the business.

Its a big vote of confidence in ICP Solar’s ability to deliver and product portfolio, as well as the superior customer service we are known for. Rare is there a consumer that doesn’t feel treated like the best. That’s the only way forward if you want anyone’s hard earned dollars spent on you. They are trusting so, so you’d better deliver the goods.

More to come…

Sass

Second major meeting, second major success. The Energizer brand, and the products we have developed for it, are by far the biggest thing we’ve ever done… I know I’ve said it before, but the combination of new technologies, new products and this brand is a killer combo….

Sass

OK, sometimes I’m cheesy yet I have my right to have some fun too! Today we announced the iSun(R) brand will be revived with a range of innovative pocketable devices for road warriors and urban explorers.

We finally retarget the billions of mobile electronic devices that are always running out of power. Its a new range that will feature all of the chararacteristics which my old friend Po always focused on “portable, scalable, modular”. Each of them will have some or all of these attributes to varying degrees. The key, as always, is the user experience. So if you think of how much iFUN it is to user your iPod or iPhone, it will be just as easy and fun to use your iSuns…

Sass

Dear Stakeholders,

Whether you are clients, vendors or otherwise, each year at this time ICP Solar benefits from attempts by some lowly competitor to paint a bleak picture of its future and try to un-nerve clients into thinking that we are going away. The farces who promote this position have now done so for six years running.

Each year, for at least the past five, they would point to our public company financials, and admonish clients and vendors alike to abandon us. And each year, we keep delivering, keep innovating and keep being market leader.

I guess I was a bit disappointed when last week I heard from our sales team that these yahoos were once again promoting these concerns. While its absolutely true that we had very large paper losses in the past year, most are a result of stock options, warrants and others non-performance considerations. An in-depth look at our performance would show anyone that we are on the right path in cost controls, margin increases and sales stabilization.

Having invested so much in R&D last year, our efforts proved worthy enough to be granted the global Energizer license for solar power. Do you think they would do so with a company unable to deliver? Our investors stand behind us and at this time, we have used $0 of an available credit line, preferring to continue reigning in costs, working on sales increases and margin growth.

To Les, Mike and Dan…nice try…I guess if you had something really distinctive to offer the market by which it could call you innovators with, you would resort to that rather than trying to diss ICP. Selling Sharp panels at substantially more to your market than dealers could buy directly from solar distributors must be very hard to justify. And although I feel bad that this is the only strategy you find of value, it is of your own making and your universe will circle back on you. It is perhaps why your largest clients are today looking for alternatives, having seen that the low cost, low quality offerings can only go so far, until a market grows to learn and sees the lacking of poorer and shallower ranges of products.

As the asian vendors go direct to retailers and distributors, bypassing non-value added members of the supply chain, a price strategy wallows in defeat. It is only by innovation and consumer confidence that any company can win. What I write here is nothing new, its just a strategy that is not as easy to deliver upon as many would think, and why I am absolutely confident that with our brand partners, Coleman and Energizer, and with our own in-house brand Sunsei, ICP Solar is positioned to deliver what consumers want in 2010 and beyond.

Should ANYONE have any question about ICP Solar’s ability to deliver on the promise of the future, please do not hesitate to contact me. I am at anyone’s disposal to help you gain the confidence you need to join our bandwagon into a great future.

Sass

Many investors ask me on a given day…”what’s up with the ICP Solar stock price?” My answer never varies…I don’t look at the stock price.
At this infancy stage, ICP Solar is focused on driving consumer value through its Sunsei and Coleman brands. We are focused on operational improvement on our path to profitability. As seen in our first earnings conference call, where one of our competitors admitted to having invested in us, we cannot know who is selling, buying or why. What we know is that ICP Solar’s corporate performance is radically improving with each passing day, our customers are recognizing the superiority of our products vs competition (whose product claims are more like a farce in the unregulated consumer market that we live in), and our sales per square foot are better by a two to one margin over other brands.
In the end though, its about profits and sustainability and as you all saw, our last quarter points to just such a path. With increased confidence in our path and plan, I can tell you that I don’t remember feeling such energy in this team and that is translating to success after success in our drives.
Keep believing.
Sass

Today we announced a partnership with Integrated Metering Systems, of Florida, for grid-tie solar energy net metering systems working in tandem with our Greenmeter renewable energy web-based monitoring product.
Since we announced the launch of our Sunsei(R) Greenmeter, we have had several offers of metering companies which are already California Energy Commission approved, who wanted to partner with us. We chose IMS because of their history, their quality reputation, certification in California and depth of distribution with the electrical contractor community.
Our Greenmeter has already been installed in solar energy offgrid installations around the world and we are getting rave reviews. I am confident that are at the cusp of something great for ICP Solar with the acquisition that brought us the intellectual property from a small group of bright engineers. With our marketing revamp and our chinese manufacturing connection, we will make this product penetrate markets unthought of prior to our acquiring it.
We had previously thought that our solar energy creating rooftile would be our first product introduction into the grid-tie market, yet with the residential meltdown, we chose instead to focus R&D monies on the monitoring system, and it seems in hindsight to have been a good decision.
Sass

Just returned from Las Vegas where ICP Solar was exhibiting at the annual CES Electronics Fair.
While general attendance seemed significantly down this year, due to budget cutbacks by retailers who sent less people and for shorter time, ICP Solar’s booth was plenty busy. The buzz around solar energy in general is quite big this year, and there was even a “Green Gadget” area at the show, although most of the products were simple rehashes of old themes.
The key to ICP Solar’s success was depth. Depth of product, depth of knowledge and depth of people. We had a great crew ready to serve and we came back with hundreds of cards. Now I’ll agree that its not the volume of leads, more the quality, yet it seemed that we had less “tire kickers” and more retailers who genuinely want to go deeper with us in range of offerings. With 2009 proving to be a tough year ahead, more and more retailers are looking to name brands, which ICP Solar is unique in offering our space. Consumers, already mistified by the category, turn to our Sunsei and Coleman brands more in times of tight budgets, even if they cost more, as proven recently by competitive side by side tests at one particular retailers, where ICP Solar’s products sold 2 to 1 in dollars vs a noname competitor with similar items and shelf space. That will tell the tale this year where we are well positioned to gain market share and new product offerings from our whopping R&D expenses of last year will be launched.
It is exhausting to do these fairs, yet we get lots of market feedback and get to gain insight on where the retailers think the market is going in our category for next year.
That’s it for now, I am tired from all this flying around and do wish to take this opportunity to wish my readers a very Happy New Year.
Sass