I think we might be both right. When ISS reported 3Q08 results on 10/30/08, as you corrected me, ISS formally announced they were withdrawing the shelf. I believe they also brought this up in their 2Q08 quarterly report on 7/29/08, which I pasted into my last message, that they anticipated pulling the shelf. As you suggest, perhaps they anticipated the declining market.

I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on what ISS might do with the money. I gather it is a target-rich environment out there, with a variety of potential acquisitions. Given the nasty economic environment, some of these potential acquisitions might be real bargains right now, and this might be motivating ISS to move at this time. It’s interesting that even with $12 million in cash, no debt, and strong cash flow, ISS has not been moved on any acquisitions. I get the impression ISS is aiming for a larger acquisition. And the timing of this secondary seems peculiar. I can’t imagine an earlier date for ISS to do this secondary, so ISS seems to be in eager to raise the cash, and proceed with acquisitions. One would think ISS’s stock price should continue to strengthen as the economy recovers, but ISS seems intent on moving quickly.

There is that common doubt of the effectiveness of acquisitions. I think it is fair to say that the jury is still out on the value of the EIS RTMS acquisition. ISS structured the deal with stock and bonuses in such as a way as to pay for performance to EIS, and as a result, the deal hedged the risk of an acquisition. My sense is that RTMS is now just turning the corner, and we might finally begin to see the promise of what RTMS can deliver. I don’t think we have seen products deriving from a hybrid of Autoscope and RTMS. Any thoughts on when we might see products? So it seems premature to judge this.

But I think we are already getting a foretaste of the possible operating margin improvement that could happen with increased sales. There doesn’t appear to be a great deal of savings yet with RTMS, but with some of the savings in these last quarters, ISS demonstrates the value of running more revenue on this base of operations. It’s still a little early to make that judgment, but I think ISS could realize this leverage of operations with rising revenues.

Despite what looks like an exciting future, we have to stay tuned to see where Aubrey and Company take us next!