Stock Prices, War Profiteering, and the Osprey soars (?) againBrooks manufactures bullet- proof vests, a business that has boomed since September 11th, 2001. During the first year in the war on terror there was a tremendous shortage of armored vests, and manufacturers scrambled to fill the backlog of orders. As a result, DHB stock took off as Pentagon and private security contractor cash poured in. In the late 1990’s DHB stock was valued at less than a dollar a share. In December 2004, it topped out at $22.53 a share. Brooks followed the first rule of the market manipulation and profiteering game and began to sell off shares between November 14 and December 29 of that year, even as the company denied that Brooks was selling off huge chunks of stock. The result was typical in that nervous investors began to sell off as well and the price per share began to tank. It toppled and then bottomed out around $6.50, butt he damage had been done to other investors. Brooks was only able to pocket around $186 million dollars.
However, DHB stock has since ‘rebounded’ up to trade at $7 a share. Brooks received an additional $70 million dollars in compensation from salary, bonus, and options. During 2001, Brooks had earned just $525,00 from his company, so that’s an increase of 13,349 percent!!! This places Brooks at the top of the defense contractor heap in terms of pay increase, earning him Alt’s very first Krupp Award, named after the arms manufacturing dynasty that brought you both World War I and II. Brooks has since placed a retired general on the board of DHB as a publicity ploy to placate investors, but they haven’t gotten back on the bandwagon yet.
In the first year of the war on terror, bullet- proof vests were hard to come by, and Brooks leaped into the breach to fill the gap. He took seemingly no known vacations, preferring to bill the company in the year of his profiteering for an additional $87,500 in uncollected time off. This at a time when G.I.’s in Iraq were sweating additional combat tours as a result of stop loss orders.
Of course, some may argue that Brook’s has an important job as a manufacturer of bullet-t proof vests. In May of this year, the United States Marine Corps recalled 5,277 of his so-called interceptor armored vests, after they failed to stop 9mm pistol rounds. Of course by this time Brooks had pocked over $250 million in war profits. No one knows if any Marines paid with their lives.
http://www.altpressonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=470— DHB Discontinues Use of Zylon® in Bullet Resistant Products
— Announces Voluntary Replacement Program for Non-Compliant Vests
— Preliminarily Estimates a $60 Million Charge to Third Quarter 2005 Earnings
August 30, 2005
Westbury, NY — DHB Industries Inc. (AMEX:DHB), operating principally in the growing field of body armor, announced today that although it remains confident in the safety and performance of its body armor products containing Zylon®, it has discontinued the use of Zylon® in its bullet resistant products on August 24, 2005. The Company has ceased production of all Zylon®-containing bullet resistant products due to the National Institute of Justice's (NIJ) decision to revoke the NIJ’s previously issued certifications of all vests containing Zylon® in the marketplace. The Company also announces that it will be implementing a Voluntary Replacement Program to assist its customers who presently have non NIJ-compliant Zylon® body armor.
It is important to note that this Voluntary Replacement Program is not a product recall. This action is a result of the de-certification by the NIJ of body armor with Zylon®, which will result in certain customers having body armor that will not be in compliance with the new NIJ requirements. This program will assist the law enforcement community in replacing its Zylon® body armor with, NIJ-compliant body armor.
"We will diligently work with our customers to address these issues. Officer safety is and will remain our number one priority," stated General (Ret.) Larry Ellis, DHB’s President. He continued, "It is our intent to work with the law enforcement community to supply them with replacement vests as rapidly as possible. We encourage all those presently using bullet resistant body armor containing Zylon® to continue wearing their body armor as recommended by the Department of Justice, until their vest have been replaced or exchanged. We believe that, based upon testing and research, that our vests are safe for use by officers in the field."
The Company will record a charge to third quarter earnings to account for the anticipated cost of the Zylon® Replacement Program and discontinued sales of products that contain Zylon®. The amount of the third quarter charge has not yet been finalized, but is not expected to exceed $60 million.
http://www.paca-vest.com/news.asp
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