SISM Research: About SISM Research

SISM Research is a private independent research firm, based in Zurich, Switzerland, offering independent, fundamental research on public companies since 1995. SISM Research specializes in small and micro capitalization companies trading on the OTC, NASDAQ and AMEX that would otherwise fall under the radar of the typical Wall Street investor. We provide investors with an excellent first step in their research and due diligence by providing and consolidating the publicly available information on the covered companies. This coverage is geared toward institutional and individual investors in both North America and in Europe. SISM Research has no investment banking or consultation conflicts thereby minimizing the inherent conflicts of interest between the research analysts and the companies they cover.

SISM Research takes steps to ensure independence, including setting fees in advance and utilizing analysts who must abide by the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct, the CFA-NIRI Guidelines, the exacting “Standards for Independent Research Providers” and in accordance with guidance set forth by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies. Additionally, analysts are not trading in any security under coverage.

SISM Research provides continuing research on the companies it covers. A coverage will commence with an "institutional-quality” initial report, followed by up to three quarterly updates per year, which will be issued by the analyst following the release of a subsequent FORM 10-Q. Additionally, research notes will be issued periodically by SISM analysts, and will track changes in earning estimates, ratings, or analyses. As with all quality research programs, the analyst will spend time with management and thoroughly review the company's industry and competitive position.

Quarterly Updates: The corporate business and relevant industry events, along with both the earnings and valuation models will be updated in the quarterly reports. This will include SISM’s price targets and recommendations. These updated reports will be prepared and issued after quarterly earnings releases (FORM 10-Q).

Research Notes: Given that markets are continually receiving new corporate information, SISM Research analysts will issue research notes to immediately comment on corporate developments, as well as to change price targets and recommendations. These research notes will be issued whenever the covering analyst desires to immediately communicate or comment on the impact of a corporate announcement or when a change occurs in the competitive position or economic condition underlying the investment thesis for the company under coverage.

Earnings estimates by SISM Research regarding each covered company will be included in the Earning Estimates of Thomson First Call. Coverage by SISM places a company in these firms' critical investment databases, which are used widely by the professional investment community in searches, and screens involving analyst recommendations and estimates.

SISM’S RESEARCH IS EFFECTIVE BECAUSE OF ITS COOPERATION WITH DISTRIBUTION PARTNERS IN NORTH AMERICA

SISM analyst reports are distributed via institutional networks and the Internet. SISM Research will post research reports (consisting of an initial report and quarterly updates) on its Web site (www.sism.com). In addition, InvestTrend.com will post SISM research reports on its Web site (www.Investrend.com). Each company on InvesTrend’s Web site will have an Investor Power page.

SISM’s research reports and notes, as well as news headlines of report releases, are available worldwide to more than 300,000 institutions using the Bloomberg Professional system. FirstCall, and I/B/E/S, now units of Thompson Financial, include SISM research in its subscription database of equity research information. This is the most widely used service by institutional investors in the U.S. They also include SISM estimates in their widely used consensus estimates and serve more than 2,000 institutional investors and 450 academic institutions in sixty countries on five continents.

Syndicated Report Distribution – Syndicated report distribution goes through seven channels, which comprise the InvesTrend Research Syndicate, a proprietary entity of InvesTrend Communications, Inc. Through three “primary” channels, reports are routed to key outlets: Knobias, Reuters Research, ResearchConnect, ResearchWave, Thomson Financial, ValuEngine, and Zacks.

In total, equity research distributions via this one-of-a-kind syndicate include re-distribution of reports to more than thirty-five financial community portals including AfterHoursTrading, Asia-Shop, DailyStocks, dtniq.com, Earthlink Finance, Google Finance, Hoovers.com, Investext, JosephStevens, ManagineMoney, Ming Finance, MultexInvestor.com, MultexNet.com, PortfolioBuilder, ResearchConnect, SGALists, StockTheOdds, TheLion, Trade10, TrendTrader, WallStreetTape, and Yahoo Finance. The InvesTrend Research Syndicate also includes distributions direct to desktops, as well as numerous other destinations around the world.

Investrend.com Home Page Report Publication Announcements – Home page announcements of a company’s enrollment into coverage, as well as announcements regarding the publication of all company research, receive top placement at the InvesTrend Web site. These announcements also link directly to the company’s dedicated InvestorPower™ Page as well as to research reports.

Dedicated company InvestorPower™ Page - InvestorPower™ pages at Investrend.com are permanent, dynamically updated company pages, providing shareholders direct access to a company overview, contact information, reports, charts, Web casts, and events, as well as ticker-specific links to Edgar, news, press releases, and data from a wide assortment of resource sites.

Research Reports and Publication Announcements Permanently Archived - All newly-published research reports are accessible from four InvesTrend Web site locations, ultimately leading to the primary InvesTrend Equity Research Archive, where all reports are indexed and remain permanently accessible via a permanent link. Investrend.com has consistently ranked as the most frequented independent research Web site in the world. Best-performance months generate about 720,000 hits, and about 42,300 unique visitors.

FinancialWire™ News Wire Coverage (news articles) - Proprietary to InvesTrend, FinancialWire™ is the third-largest financial news wire organization, serving the global financial community by publishing and distributing 70 to 100 internally produced news stories to millions of readers every business day, based on publicly-available information (including standards-based research reports announced via the InvesTrend Research Syndicate). FinancialWire™ provides instantaneous, direct, real-time dissemination, reaching the overwhelming majority of key firms, institutions, professionals, and individuals, via their preferred, chosen conduits of communication including Comtex News (general and financial portals); Factiva (every giant corporate intranet); FinancialContent (general and newspapers); Knobias (90% buy side penetration); Lexis-Nexis (the legal community); M2Presswire (general and specialty); and ninety percent of North American trading stations. FinancialWire™ news stories are distributed and re-distributed to an estimated ninety percent of the global financial community via outlets such as Alphatrade, A.G. Edwards, AMEX, Asia-Stop, AT&T Wireless, Bear Stearns, Bloomberg, Blackberry, Briefing.com, CBS Marketwatch, Citigroup, Dow Jones-Reuters, Financial Times of London, Hoovers.com, I/B/E/S First Call, Investor’s Business Daily (Investors.com), Jeffries, Knight, Merrill Lynch, Ming Finance, Morningstar, Nasdaq, QuoteMedia, Schwab, Silicon Investor, Sina.com, SprintPCS, Standard & Poor’s, Stockhouse, Stockgroup, Thomson Financial, Zacks and others, including numerous investor relations and third party firms.

Distributors and re-distributors also include AfterHoursTrading - Alta Vista, Big Charts, BioSpace, Connecticut Post, CSFB-Pershing, CNET, DailyStocks, Datastar, Dialog, Divine, Excite, Foliofin, FreeRealTime, HeyAnita, InfoSpace, Internet.com, JosephStevens, Lycos/Quote.com, Managinemoney, Market News, Mindbranch, Multex, Nelson’s, NewsAlert, NewsEdge, OnMoney, PortfolioBuilder, Proquest, Schwab Velocity, Spear Leeds & Kellogg, StockDr.com, Stockgroup, Track Data, The Deal, TheLion, Trend Trader, Voquette, WallStreetCity, WallStreetTape, and others.

FirstAlert™ Daily Electronic Newsletter - The FirstAlert™ daily electronic newsletter, sent via e-mail, incorporates FinancialWire™ news stories, as well as analyst notes generated by calls into companies covered through the InvesTrend Research Syndicate. The First Alert™ newsletter includes hyperlinks to research reports, research report summaries, and company Web sites.

FirstAlert™ has an opt-in subscriber base of 300,000-plus. This subscriber base includes Wall Street analysts, brokers, investment bankers and traders, as well as public company executives, legal professionals, and individual investors. Content includes additional “In-Focus Research” sections, referencing reports distributed by the InvesTrend Research Syndicate. The FirstAlert™ subscriber base has been actively vetted for more than six years