The Opportunity Knocks Conference, which was held on October 29, 2015, is an annual event hosted by The Howard Group that presents a wide variety of emerging companies to eager investors and other members of the investing community. All firms in attendance offered a proprietary service and have a good management team.
@Jessica Vomiero | November 5, 2015 | SmallCapPower
“You need lots of bruises to increase your chances of being successful,” said Grant Howard.
Mr. Howard is the CEO and founder of The Howard Group Inc., which provides corporate communication and capital market services for micro & small-cap companies.
With this statement, he’s referring to experience, something that all the companies being represented at the Opportunity Knocks Conference have in common.
The Opportunity Knocks Conference, which was held at the Omni King Edward Hotel on October 29, 2015, is an annual event hosted by The Howard Group that presents a wide variety of emerging and small-cap companies to eager investors and other members of the investing community.
The companies in attendance this year included CEMATRIX Corporation (TSXV: CVX), Grande West Transportation Group Inc. (TSXV: BUS), Robix Alternative Fuels, Inc. (CSE: RZX), Icesoft Technologies, VidWrx (TSXV: VID), and Symbility Solutions Inc. (TSXV: SY).
Robix Alternative Fuels, for example, specializes in oil spill cleanup technology. Robix was founded in 2011 and has since grown to become a recognized name in environmental protection. Robix President and CEO Nathan Hansen stated that the company is looking to grow into the spill recovery and oil production market as they move towards revenue generation.
“Robix is actively pursuing large markets, one is the oil spill recovery market and the other is oil producers. The C Series product line is a vessel designed to be deployed in oceans, lakes and rivers to recover spilt oil from these waters, while the P Series products are stationary platforms designed to efficiently recover oil from settling ponds in production facilities,” said Hansen.
He went on to say that, “Robix products are ready for commercial deployment and we are targeting revenue generation by Q1 2016.”
Looking for more hidden gems? Get your free Ubika Technology 20 Monthly report.
The Ubika Technology 20 Index (UT20) powered 6.3% higher during the past month, compared with a 0.7% decline for the TSX Information Technology Index. The TSX Venture Index, meanwhile, gained 3.6% over the same time. Redknee Solutions Inc. (TSX: RKN) was the top-performing component company this month, climbing 20% after its CEO said it has started to see the benefits of the cost structure realignment program it implemented last year.
Get your copy of the Ubika Technology 20 report here >>
Although these companies range from technology to resources, Mr. Howard emphasizes one similarity that justifies his interest in all of them. They all offer a proprietary service and are managed effectively by a capable, experienced management team that have managerial experience.
“There’s nothing surprising in that because there are so many things you don’t know or can’t appreciate if you haven’t done it before. Just your gut telling you that something’s not right. How to deal with investors, how do you get your product to market, how to deal with staffing issues,” he said.
Every company represented at the conference has an operating revenue of about $25 million and demonstrate growth rates that the majority of companies in a crowded small cap market can’t muster. This is why The Howard Group believes in these companies, despite their different sectors.
“If there’s a consumer product and you don’t know about it and haven’t heard about it, you can’t think about maybe investing in it. We think of all these folks as consumer products,” Mr. Howard said.
He explains that the purpose of this conference is to expose these companies to potential investors who may not have known about them otherwise.
“It’s exposure and awareness and giving people some markers to follow in terms of watching the progress of these companies, plus their different stages of their evolution. It’s pretty tough to gage what you think something might be worth unless you understand what the business is and are able to track its progress.”
Despite Mr. Howard’s assurance that the small cap market won’t turn around in the near future, he says that there are a few bright spots to take note of.
“There are actually a fair number of bright spots. We’re seeing it kick up in technology companies and people are starting to gravitate towards them,” he added.
Questions or comments? Email me at Jessica Vomiero
Disclosure: Robix Alternative Fuels and VidWrx are client companies of SmallCapPower/Ubika Research and have paid a fee for coverage. See the Robix Investor Hub and VidWrx Investor Hub for more information.
