Posted by Dave Bull at 9:00 AM, February 21, 2006
TOKYO (UP News) - Attention returned again today to the unanswered questions surrounding the affairs of Woodblock.com, Tokyo-based supplier of woodblock prints, as unidentified sources within the company leaked information on the company's reaction to the SEC investigation begun earlier in the week.
"The SEC has misunderstood these market actions" the source said, referring to last week's sudden increase in the number of investors seeking to acquire shares in the company. "Woodblock.com is not a typical company, but one that has a very special relationship with its clients. When these people heard the warning given earlier about the possibility of job loss - even though only a remote possibility - they rallied to the cause. This is the source of the market activity, and not any particular inside knowledge of our upcoming re-organization." he stressed.
The SEC remained unconviced by the company's denials, pointing out that offers to invest had come from "very closely related" groups. "Are we to believe that individuals in these related companies have no inside information on Woodblock.com's plans for expansion?" he questioned. "Our investigators have been in touch with people at the parent company, but they deny any knowledge whatsoever of the expansion plan. This seems hardly credible." he added.
The unidentified source at Woodblock.com also made statements clarifying the timing of the upcoming re-organization. "Based on a mis-reading of previous communications, some market players have come to expect an announcement on February 26th. Our new systems will not be in place by that date. We have called for a lot of overtime from everybody in the company - top to bottom - as we prepare our product launch, but management is committed to having all the bugs worked out before we 'go live'" the source confided. "And besides," he added with a smile, "February 26th is a Sunday, and our team is busy with other projects on Sunday ... once a week on _every_ Sunday!"
