UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K
| x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2003
OR
| ¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission File Number: 001-11747
VIE FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
(formerly The Ashton Technology Group, Inc.)
| Delaware | 22-6650372 | |
| (State of incorporation) | (I.R.S. ID) |
1835 MARKET STREET, SUITE 420
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA 19103
(215) 789-3300
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
| Common Stock, $0.01 par value |
OTC Bulletin Board | |
| (Title of class) | (Name of exchange on which registered) | |
| Aggregate market value of the voting stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant by September 30, 2002: | Number of shares outstanding of the Registrants Class of common stock at June 27, 2003: | |
| $4,148,363 | 692,974,817 | |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrants knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this form 10-K or any amendment to this form 10-K ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined by Exchange Act Rule 12b-2) Yes ¨ No x
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:
Proxy Statement relating to the 2003 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (incorporated, in part, in Form 10-K Part III)
VIE FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
FORM 10-K
For the Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2003
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| PART 1 |
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| ITEM 1. |
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| ITEM 2. |
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| ITEM 3. |
9 | |||
| ITEM 4. |
10 | |||
| PART II |
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| ITEM 5. |
10 | |||
| ITEM 6. |
11 | |||
| ITEM 7. |
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND |
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| 12 | ||||
| ITEM 7A. |
25 | |||
| ITEM 8 |
27 | |||
| ITEM 9. |
CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE |
61 | ||
| PART III |
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| ITEM 10. |
61 | |||
| ITEM 11. |
61 | |||
| ITEM 12. |
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT |
61 | ||
| ITEM 13. |
61 | |||
| ITEM 14. |
61 | |||
| PART IV |
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| ITEM 15. |
EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, SCHEDULES AND REPORTS ON FORM 8K |
63 | ||
| 69 | ||||
| 72 | ||||
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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain statements included in this document constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other important factors include, among others:
| | our ability to become profitable; |
| | availability and terms of capital to fund our operations; |
| | our dependence on arrangements with our clearing firm, external liquidity providers, execution venues and self-regulatory organizations; |
| | changes in business strategy or development plans; |
| | our dependence on proprietary technology; |
| | fluctuations in securities trading volumes, prices and market liquidity; |
| | industry trends; |
| | competition; |
| | our ability to develop markets for our products; |
| | our ability to develop intended future products; |
| | availability of qualified personnel; |
| | changes in government regulation; |
| | general economic and business conditions; and |
| | other risk factors referred to in this Form 10-K under the heading Additional Factors That May Affect Future Results. |
In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as may, will, should, could, would, expects, plans, anticipates, believes, estimates, projects, predicts, potential or continue or other forms of or the negative of those terms or other comparable terms.
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such statements. We do not have a duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this filing.
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PART 1
| ITEM 1. | BUSINESS |
In this Form 10-K, the terms Vie, we, our and us refer to Vie Financial Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, unless the context suggests otherwise.
Overview of Our Business
Vie Financial Group, Inc. (formerly The Ashton Technology Group, Inc.) and its subsidiaries provide electronic trading services to institutional investors and broker-dealers. We strive to remove the human element from the trading and order execution process in order to eliminate information leakage. Our objective is to provide our clients with high-performance electronic trading that is fast, efficient and nearly invisible to the market.
Our principal subsidiaries include:
| | Vie Securities, LLC |
| | Universal Trading Technologies Corporation and its subsidiaries: |
| | Vie Institutional Services, Inc. |
| | REB Securities, Inc. |
Vie Financial Group, Inc. was formed as a Delaware corporation in 1994. Vies subsidiary Universal Trading Technologies Corporation (UTTC) was incorporated in February 1995 with the business objective of designing, developing and utilizing products for the securities trading market. In September 1995, UTTC entered into an agreement with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange to employ its Universal Trading System (later renamed eVWAP) as a facility of the Exchange through its subsidiary REB Securities. eVWAP was a fully automated system that permitted market participants to trade eligible securities before the market open at the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) for the day. The VWAP is a widely accepted benchmark used by broker-dealers and institutional traders, and is derived from adding up the dollars traded for each transaction during a specified interval of time and then dividing by the total shares traded during the interval. In August 1999, we launched eVWAP, which was our primary product offering through the fiscal year ended March 31, 2002. Our last trade through the eVWAP system was in March 2002, and on November 29, 2002, we mutually agreed with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange not to seek an extension of the eVWAP pilot facility. Our current product offering consists of VWAP and other trade execution services which we provide through our broker-dealer subsidiaries Vie Institutional Services, Inc. and Vie Securities, LLC.
Vie Institutional Services was formed in February 1999 as a broker-dealer registered with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Vie Institutional Services provides liquidity for block trades to our buy-side institutional clients through our VWAP trading products, direct access service, and market-on-close products. We anonymously match customers orders with liquidity from various providers, thereby protecting our client trade information. Since May 2002, we launched four new trading products including Limit VWAP, Point-to-Point VWAP, Best Efforts VWAP and Market on Close. We operate Vie Institutional Services as an agency broker that matches buy-side institutional orders with other buy-side or liquidity provider orders. We collect commissions from our customers and pay fees to our liquidity providers on a per share basis.
Vie Securities began operating in July 2000 as a proprietary trading broker-dealer registered with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. On September 19, 2002, Vie Securities received approval to operate as a member of the NASD. Through Vie Securities, we operate our proprietary trading algorithm, which allows us to provide liquidity at the VWAP to our broker-dealer customers, including Vie Institutional Services, and specialized trading firms. Using our trading algorithm, we attempt to achieve the VWAP of the securities we trade in order to minimize our cost of providing liquidity to our customers. We also collect commissions from our broker-dealer customers on a per share basis.
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During the year ended March 31, 2003 three customers, including a money manager, a hedge fund, and a broker-dealer, accounted for approximately 33%, 22% and 10%, respectively of our revenues. Although our revenues for the fiscal year were concentrated among these three customers, our customer base is susceptible to frequent change. Our customer arrangements are not contractual, so customers are free to trade with multiple service providers. Further, there is intense competition in the market for VWAP trade execution services. Because our customers trade with us at will, and their relationship with us can be terminated at any time, we have no control over whether our current customers will continue to do business with us. Although we believe our customer base will be less concentrated during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, if we are unable to maintain a diversified customer base, then the loss of individual customers may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
We are a subsidiary of OptiMark Innovations Inc., a Delaware corporation. On May 7, 2002, Innovations acquired approximately 88% of our outstanding shares of common stock, and we issued a senior secured convertible note to Innovations for $2,727,273, which is convertible into 52,870,757 shares of our common stock. Assuming conversion of this note, Innovations would own approximately 89% of our common stock. As long as Innovations owns a majority of our outstanding common stock, Innovations will be able to elect a majority of our board of directors and control the outcome of any other matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders. Pursuant to an Investors Rights Agreement, Innovations has the right to approve certain significant corporate matters such as (i) the issuance of additional shares of common stock; (ii) the repurchase or redemption of our securities; (iii) a merger, consolidation, or sale of substantially all of our assets; or (iv) our involvement in any business other than our current line of business.
On October 9, 2002, we hired Dean Stamos as our Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Stamos is co-founder and the former president of NYFIX Millennium, a New York-based alternative trading system and registered broker-dealer. Also on October 9, 2002, we launched our new identity with the announcement of our name change to Vie Financial Group, Inc. from The Ashton Technology Group, Inc. We also changed the name of our subsidiaries, Croix Securities, Inc. and ATG Trading, LLC to Vie Institutional Services, Inc. and Vie Securities, LLC, respectively.
We have recognized recurring operating losses since our inception and have financed our operations primarily through the issuance of equity securities. As of March 31, 2003, we had an accumulated deficit of $96,513,500 and stockholders deficiency of $4,039,795, which raises doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern. We have developed a plan that we believe will enable us to continue operating until we are able to generate sufficient revenues to fund our operations. Our primary initiatives include reducing the cost of providing liquidity to our customers, reducing our current operating expenses and streamlining our corporate structure. There is no assurance however that the plan will be successful.
Our principal executive offices are at 1835 Market Street, Suite 420, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Our telephone number is (215) 789-3300. Our website is www.viefinancial.com. Information on our website does not constitute part of this document.
Other Affiliates
Ashton Technology Canada, Inc.
Ashton Technology Canada, Inc. is one of our majority-owned subsidiaries. On December 20, 1999, we entered into an agreement to create Ashton Canada to develop, market and operate intelligent matching, online transaction systems and distribution systems for use by U.S. and Canadian financial intermediaries. On June 8, 2000, Ashton Canada entered into an agreement with the Toronto Stock Exchange to market, deploy, and operate our proprietary eVWAP, as a facility of the Toronto Stock Exchange for Canadian securities. On January 12, 2001, the Ontario Securities Commission approved an amendment to the Rules and Policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange, allowing the implementation of eVWAP as a facility of the Toronto Stock Exchange and allowing participating organizations and eligible institutional clients access to the eVWAP facility. The Toronto Stock Exchange deferred implementing eVWAP in 2002, and Ashton Canada reduced its expenses and staffing to address the reduced prospects for near-term revenues from such a facility.
On June 11, 2003, Ashton Canada filed an arbitration claim against the Toronto Stock Exchange for breach of contract under the June 7, 2000 agreement to introduce the eVWAP trading system. The arbitration claim states that Ashton Canada designed, developed and was prepared to deploy eVWAP as a facility of the primary Canadian exchange when the Toronto Stock Exchange circumvented the deployment of eVWAP without proper excuse. The Ashton Canada arbitration claim was filed in Toronto, Ontario and seeks substantial damages.
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Ashton Canada is no longer operational, has no employees, and currently has the sole objective of focusing on the arbitration claim with the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Electronic Market Center, Inc. (Discontinued Operations)
We formed Electronic Market Center, Inc. (eMC) as a wholly owned subsidiary in June 1998 to develop, operate and market a global electronic distribution channel for financial products and services. In April 2000, Vies board of directors agreed to fund eMCs initial development efforts. After being unable to find other funding sources or consummate a sale of eMC to a third party, eMCs board of directors voted on March 29, 2001 to begin the orderly winding down of its operations, including terminating all of its employees, selling its assets, and negotiating the settlement of its outstanding liabilities. eMCs results are reflected as discontinued operations in the consolidated financial statements for all periods presented.
Products
We believe VWAP has worldwide recognition as a benchmark used by broker-dealers and buy-side institutions to measure traders performance. VWAP is derived from adding up the dollars traded for each transaction during a specified interval of time and then dividing by the total shares traded during the interval. Our VWAP products were developed to help our customers meet this widely accepted yet difficult to achieve benchmark. Our VWAP products include the following:
| | Full-Day VWAP |
With Full-Day VWAP, traders can execute large transactions prior to market open and lock in the VWAP for their buy and sell orders. This product permits short sales that are exempt from the SECs up-tick rules for a large group of listed securities.
| | Limit VWAP |
This unique and flexible product significantly reduces trade execution risk by allowing customers to achieve limit order protection and anonymity for large blocks that are incrementally filled using VWAP tracking algorithms. With Vie Limit VWAP, a customer can place an order to buy at the VWAP benchmark without exceeding a price specified by the buyer in advance. Conversely, the Limit VWAP also allows a customer to sell at the VWAP benchmark without going below a pre-specified price. Vie Limit VWAP is designed not to go outside of the boundaries of the customers price.
| | Point-to-Point VWAP |
This product gives traders the flexibility to benchmark off the VWAP in fifteen-minute intervals during the trading day. A sample Point-to Point VWAP trade can be placed at 11:15 am and end at 3:45 pm. Buy and sell orders for each point-to-point session are priced at the primary market VWAP for the specified interval. Point-to-Point VWAP orders generally must be received five minutes before the beginning of the fifteen-minute trading interval.
| | Best Efforts VWAP |
Best Efforts VWAP uses our VWAP tracking algorithms to achieve pricing that closely tracks the volume weighted average price. Best efforts orders have a cancellation feature and receive the composite price achieved over the specified interval.
In addition to VWAP-based trading, we offer the following trade execution services:
| | Direct Access |
This service enables clients to trade NYSE, Nasdaq and AMEX stocks on a single platform, offering a connection to multiple liquidity sources. We currently accept these orders via a FIX connection, e-mail, FTP, fax and phone. In the near future, we plan to provide these services through a direct access workstation, fully integrated into leading trade order management systems.
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| | Market on Close |
For program and quantitative traders who need to trade large baskets of securities, including Nasdaq issues, at the closing price, we offer Market on Close, which guarantees the end-of-day closing price on orders received by 3:30 pm.
Competition
We face competition from traditional broker-dealers, proprietary trading firms, and alternative trading systems offering similar trade execution services, including companies such as Investment Technology Group, Instinet, Bloomberg and LiquidNet. The marketplace for VWAP execution products and services has become highly competitive with the increasing customer demand for VWAP executions. Customers demand guaranteed VWAP pricing, confidentiality, and competitive commission rates. Recently, our key customer mix is susceptible to constant change as a result of customers sensitivity to commission rates, their willingness to engage multiple VWAP service providers, and the non-contractual nature of our relationships with customers.
We believe the factors that distinguish our products from those of our competitors include high fill rates, minimal market impact, anonymity, quality of trade execution and pricing, and client service. We provide a real alternative to the traditional and proprietary brokerage relationships; we execute orders on behalf of clients, and we act as principal only to guarantee clients the VWAP. We do not hold securities positions and we do not trade for our own account. This eliminates an inherent conflict of interest that we believe will become an influencing factor as regulatory, audit, compliance and ethical standards increase due to recent corporate abuses, declining institutional fund performance and an overall difficult economic climate. Our network of clients and liquidity partners enables us to match natural buyers and sellers, giving us the ability to offer higher fill rates than many of the alternative trading systems that we compete with and to work large orders anonymously to prevent client orders from negatively impacting market price.
Although we feel our products offer improved trading performance, flexibility and other benefits, there is no assurance that our products will adequately address all the competitive criteria in a manner that results in a competitive advantage.
Regulation
Government Regulation
Our broker-dealer entities are subject to significant government regulation, under both federal and state laws, as well as the rules of several self-regulatory organizations, or SROs. The SEC is primarily responsible for the administration of the federal securities laws, while SROs are responsible for the day-to-day regulation of their broker-dealer members. The SEC and SROs are also charged with protecting the interests of the investing public and the integrity of the securities markets. Our broker-dealer affiliates, Vie Institutional Services, Vie Securities and REB Securities are subject to regulation by the SEC, the NASD, and/or the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, with respect to all aspects of the securities business, including sales practices, record keeping, capital structure, and conduct of directors, officers and employees. The SEC, SROs and state securities commissions may conduct periodic examinations of broker-dealers, which can result in censures, fines, orders to cease and desist, or the suspension of broker-dealers, their officers or employees. The principal purpose of these regulations is to protect clients of broker-dealers and the securities markets, rather than to protect the creditors and stockholders of the broker-dealers.
Net Capital Requirement and Credit Risk
As registered broker-dealers, our subsidiaries Vie Institutional Services, Vie Securities and REB Securities are subject to the SECs Uniform Net Capital Rule (Rule 15c3-1) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The net capital rule is designed to measure the general integrity and liquidity of a broker-dealer and requires that at least a minimum part of its assets be kept in a relatively liquid form to promptly satisfy the claims of customers if the broker-dealer goes out of business. If our broker-dealer affiliates fail to maintain the required net capital, the SEC, Philadelphia Stock Exchange and/or NASD may impose regulatory sanctions, which may include suspension or
7
revocation of our broker-dealer licenses. Also, a change in the net capital rules, the imposition of new rules or any unusually large charge against any of our broker-dealer affiliates net capital could limit our operations, particularly Vie Securities that requires higher net capital levels in order to engage in principal trades. A significant operating loss or any unusually large charge against any of our broker-dealer affiliates net capital could adversely affect our ability to expand or even maintain our present levels of business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Also, these net capital requirements limit our ability to transfer funds from our broker-dealer affiliates to Vie Financial Group.
We have elected to use the basic method permitted by Rule 15c3-1, which requires that we maintain minimum net capital equal to the greater of $5,000 for Vie Institutional Services and REB and $100,000 for Vie Securities, or 6 2/3% of aggregate indebtedness. At March 31, 2003, Vie Institutional Services, Vie Securities and REB had net capital of $140,154, $1,370,490 and $9,594, respectively, of which $88,420, $1,270,490 and $4,594, respectively, was in excess of required net capital.
Vie Securities engages in principal trading activities, which may include the purchase, sale or short sale of securities and derivative securities. These activities are subject to a number of risks including price fluctuations and rapid changes in the liquidity of markets, all of which subjects the capital of Vie Securities to substantial risks. Vie Institutional Services does not act as a principal with respect to securities transactions; it acts only on an agency basis. Although REB is registered as a broker-dealer, it does not perform any traditional broker-dealer services; it previously acted only as a facilities manager for the eVWAP system, and is currently inactive. The relatively low credit risk of these businesses is evidenced by their minimal net capital requirements.
Proprietary Rights
We regard our products and services and the research and development that went into developing them as our property. Unauthorized third parties could copy or reverse engineer certain portions of our products or obtain or use information that we regard as proprietary. In addition, our trade secrets could become known to or be independently developed by our competitors.
We rely primarily on a combination of patent, trademark and trade secret protection, employee and third party confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, license agreements, and other intellectual property protection methods to protect these property rights. While our competitive position may be adversely affected by the unauthorized use of our proprietary information, we believe the ability to protect fully our intellectual property is less significant to our success than other factors, such as the knowledge, ability and experience of our employees and our ongoing product development and customer support activities.
Although we believe our services and products do not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, there can be no assurance that third parties will not assert infringement claims against us in the future. Any such assertions by third parties could result in costly litigation, in which we may not prevail. Also, in such event, we may be unable to license any patents or other intellectual property rights from third parties on commercially reasonable terms, if at all. Litigation, regardless of its outcome, could also result in substantial cost and diversion of our already limited resources. Any infringement claims or other litigation against us could materially impact our business, operating results, and consolidated financial condition.
Employees
As of March 31, 2003, we employed a total of 40 people.
| ITEM 2. | PROPERTIES |
On December 23, 1999, we entered into a ten-year lease for approximately 11,000 square feet of office space at 1835 Market Street, Suite 420, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Our principal executive offices are at this location.
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We also lease approximately 1,675 square feet of office space at 1900 Market Street, Suite 701, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103, pursuant to a sublease expiring in May 2005. This is the principal location for our computer operations.
Effective June 20, 2002, we entered into a three-year sublease for approximately 6,000 square feet of office space at 1114 Avenue of the Americas, 22nd Floor, New York, New York 10036. This location serves our New York-based staff, which includes administrative, marketing and technology employees.
| ITEM 3. | LEGAL PROCEEDINGS |
In May 2003, a former employee and a current employee filed separate claims against us with the U.S. Department of Labor/ Occupational Safety & Health Administration (DOL). The claims both allege employment practice issues under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. On June 12, 2003, we responded to both claims and denied all allegations. Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, claimants can file a civil suit after exhausting administrative remedies before the DOL. Although we believe the allegations are without merit, the outcome of the administrative and court proceeding, if filed, is uncertain. We do not expect a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations as a result of these claims.
On June 7, 2000, our subsidiary, Ashton Canada, entered into a written agreement with the Toronto Stock Exchange Inc. for the integration of Ashton Canadas eVWAP trade match software, equipment and communications facilities with the Toronto Stock Exchanges continuous auction market for securities. After Ashton Canada had designed and implemented the eVWAP software and assisted the Toronto Stock Exchange in securing all necessary approvals of the Ontario Securities Commission, the Toronto Stock Exchange, without proper justification or excuse, suspended the integration of eVWAP. Thereafter, following failure by the parties to resolve this matter, on June 11, 2003, Ashton Canada filed an arbitration claim against the Toronto Stock Exchange seeking damages of US $30 million for breach of contract, interest in the amount for a period as may be determined by the arbitrator, and costs of the arbitration. The arbitration was filed under the Ontario Arbitrations Act. The outcome of Ashton Canadas claims is uncertain at this time.
On May 20, 2002 Finova added us as a defendant in the case Finova Capital Corporation v. OptiMark Technologies, Inc., OptiMark, Inc and OptiMark Holdings, Inc., Docket No.: HUD-L-3884-01, Superior Court of New JerseyHudson County. Finova asserts claims arising out of an equipment lease agreement pursuant to which Finova alleges that OptiMark Technologies, Inc (now known as OptiMark US Equities, Inc.) agreed to lease certain equipment from Finova. Finova has made claims in unspecified amounts exceeding $6 million (plus interest, late charges, litigation costs and expenses) for, among other things, fraudulent conveyance of certain assets comprised, at least in part, of the intellectual property and non-cash assets acquired by us from Innovations on May 7, 2002. Pursuant to an indemnification agreement, OptiMark US Equities, Inc. will indemnify Vie from any claims relating to the alleged fraudulent conveyance. The parties have entered into a settlement agreement and mutual release, effective as of June 19, 2003 whereby OptiMark Technologies, Inc., OptiMark, Inc., OptiMark Holdings, Inc. and OptiMark US Equities, Inc. (the OptiMark Payees) have agreed to pay Finova $1,000,000 over three installment payments. In accordance with the agreement, we and our parent, OptiMark Innovations Inc., are unconditionally released from any claims by Finova once the OptiMark Payees have paid Finova the first $200,000 installment, which is due within 30 days of the effective date of the settlement agreement. We are not required to make any cash contribution or otherwise to the settlement. Should the OptiMark Payees default in making the first installment payment, we would not be released from the Finova claims and we would seek indemnification from OptiMark US Equities, Inc. If we are found liable for damages and OptiMark US Equities, Inc. is unable to fulfill its obligations under the indemnification agreement, then such litigation could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and results of operations.
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| ITEM 4. | SUBMISSION OF MATTERS TO A VOTE OF SECURITY HOLDERS |
There were no matters submitted to a vote of security holders during the quarter ended March 31, 2003.
PART II
| ITEM 5. | MARKET FOR COMMON EQUITY AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS |
The initial public offering of our stock was in May 1996, for 2,472,500 shares at an offering price of $4.50 per share. 2,472,500 redeemable common stock purchase warrants were also offered at a price of $0.25 per warrant. The warrants expired on May 2, 2002 in accordance with their original terms. Our common stock trades on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol VIEF. The following sets forth, by calendar quarter, the range of high and low closing prices per share for the common stock as reported on the OTC Bulletin Board:
| High |
Low | |||||
| 2003 |
||||||
| First Quarter |
$ | 0.09 | $ | 0.03 | ||
| 2002 |
||||||
| Fourth Quarter |
$ | 0.08 | $ | 0.02 | ||
| Third Quarter |
$ | 0.14 | $ | 0.04 | ||
| Second Quarter |
$ | 0.24 | $ | 0.10 | ||
| First Quarter |
$ | 0.40 | $ | 0.14 | ||
| 2001 |
||||||
| Fourth Quarter |
$ | 0.32 | $ | 0.09 | ||
| Third Quarter |
$ | 0.96 | $ | 0.31 | ||
| Second Quarter |
$ | 1.38 | $ | 0.84 | ||
| First Quarter |
$ | 2.62 | $ | 0.94 | ||
On June 25, 2003, the closing price of the common stock was $0.06. As of March 31, 2003, there were approximately 409 holders of record of common stock.
Since our inception in 1994, we issued seven classes of convertible preferred stock in private placements exempt from registration under Section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Regulation D thereunder (See Notes 9 and 17 to the Consolidated Financial Statements).
We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock, and the board of directors has no current plans to declare or pay any dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
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| ITEM 6. | SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA |
The following selected consolidated financial data are derived from our consolidated financial statements. Goldstein Golub Kessler LLP, our independent auditors, have audited the financial statements. You should read this data in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes, contained in Item 8, as well as Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, contained in Item 7.
| (In thousands, except per share amounts) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Year Ended March 31, |
||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 |
2002 |
2001 |
2000 |
1999 |
||||||||||||||||
| Statement of Operations Data: |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenues |
$ | 4,297 | $ | 2,489 | $ | 225 | $ | 3,869 | $ | 1,434 | ||||||||||
| Total expenses |
14,631 | 13,611 | 14,881 | 19,062 | 16,032 | |||||||||||||||
| Loss from continuing operations |
(12,076 | ) | (12,421 | ) | (15,196 | ) | (6,232 | ) | (14,276 | ) | ||||||||||
| Income (loss) from discontinued operations |
(1 | ) | (1 | ) | (2,596 | ) | | | ||||||||||||
| Gain (loss) on disposal of discontinued operations |
| 667 | (3,146 | ) | | | ||||||||||||||
| Net loss |
(12,077 | ) | (11,755 | ) | (20,938 | ) | (6,232 | ) | (14,276 | ) | ||||||||||
| Net loss per common share |
$ | (0.02 | ) | $ | (0.29 | ) | $ | (0.79 | ) | $ | (0.32 | ) | $ | (1.80 | ) | |||||
| Weighted average shares outstanding |
627,566 | 45,988 | 29,395 | 24,930 | 10,954 | |||||||||||||||
| Balance Sheet Data: |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 2,251 | $ | 172 | $ | 5,529 | $ | 15,365 | $ | 2,667 | ||||||||||
| Securities available for sale |
| | 1,483 | 9,906 | | |||||||||||||||
| Investments in affiliates |
| 225 | 141 | 1,091 | | |||||||||||||||
| Total assets |
4,600 | 2,787 | 13,066 | 31,024 | 5,654 | |||||||||||||||
| Long-term obligations |
6,954 | 4,711 | 4,364 | 8,000 | | |||||||||||||||
| Total stockholders (deficiency) equity |
$ | (4,040 | ) | $ | (4,284 | ) | $ | 2,898 | $ | 17,163 | $ | 4,445 | ||||||||
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| ITEM 7. | MANAGEMENTS DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS |
You should read the following discussion of our results of operations and liquidity and capital resources in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes for the years ended March 31, 2003, 2002, and 2001, contained in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Overview
Vie Financial Group, Inc. was formed as a Delaware corporation in 1994. We provide electronic trading services to institutional investors and broker-dealers. We strive to remove the human element from the trading and order execution process in order to eliminate information leakage. Our objective is to provide our clients with high-performance electronic trading that is fast, efficient and nearly invisible to the market.
We conduct our business through the following operating affiliates:
| | Vie Securities LLC |
| | Universal Trading Technologies Corporation (UTTC), and its subsidiaries: |
| | Vie Institutional Services, Inc. |
| | REB Securities, Inc. |
During the year ended March 31, 2003, we made substantive changes to our business model and operation of our subsidiaries, including deploying the majority of our resources to Vie Institutional Services, Inc. and Vie Securities LLC in order to 1) expand the trading products we offer to our customers, 2) expand the universe of securities in which we provide liquidity, 3) develop and implement a proprietary trading algorithm which allows us to provide guaranteed liquidity to our customers at the VWAP, and 4) lower our total cost of executing, clearing and settling trades. We launched four new trading products and implemented our trading algorithm and related proprietary technology, allowing us to optimize the allocation of orders to our liquidity sources and execute trades electronically.
Despite these recent developments, we have also recognized recurring operating losses since our inception and have financed our operations primarily through the issuance of equity securities. As of March 31, 2003, we had an accumulated deficit of $96,513,500 and stockholders deficiency of $4,039,795, which raises doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern. We have developed a plan that we believe will enable us to continue operating until we are able to generate sufficient revenues to fund our operations. Our primary initiatives include reducing the cost of providing liquidity to our customers, reducing our current operating expenses and streamlining our corporate structure. There is no assurance however that the plan will be successful.
Critical Accounting Policies
Revenue Recognition
Revenues earned during the year ended March 31, 2003 consist of commissions earned on a per share basis from our customers use of our trading services. During the years ended March 31, 2002 and March 31, 2001, we generated revenues on a per transaction basis for each share traded through the eVWAP trading system and commission revenue from our customers orders executed through Vie Institutional Services. Our last trade through the eVWAP system was in March 2002, and on November 29, 2002, we mutually agreed with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange not to seek an extension of the eVWAP pilot facility. Our current line of products is offered directly through our subsidiaries Vie Institutional Services and Vie Securities. Transactions in securities, including commission revenues and related expenses, are recorded on a trade-date basis.
Stock-Based Compensation
We have elected to apply APB Opinion No. 25 and related interpretations in accounting for stock options issued to employees. If we had elected to recognize compensation cost based on the fair value of the options
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granted to directors and employees at the grant date as prescribed by SFAS No. 123, our net loss for the year ended March 31, 2003 would have been increased by $1,470,641.