Laguna Blends, Inc. (CSE: LAG) (OTC: LAGBF) (FRANKFURT: LB6A.F) has seen a promising start to 2016. It started with the announcement of a partnership with Naturally Splendid (“NSE”) to do the research and development on all the Pro369 flavors. This was shortly followed by the potential introduction of CBD skin care products into the company’s line of merchandise.

A few months later, Laguna made public its affiliate benefits program, with two new competitions that involve giving away three 2017 Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) S’s and a luxurious Las Vegas Getaway. In addition, the company renewed Canadian Football League All Star Emmanuel Arceneaux as its brand ambassador. To top off this successful start to the year, the company announced that it generated $105,000 in unaudited sales in just 11 weeks following the launch of its affiliate marketing network.

Another change was the introduction of a new president: Ray Grimm Jr. Laguna also recently added another valuable member to its team. At the beginning of August, Laguna Blends made public the appointment of Bryan Loree as chief financial officer, corporate secretary, and a new member of its board of directors.

Loree will be replacing two members of staff: Stuart Gray, acting chief financial officer, and Negar Adam, corporate secretary and director. Loree has over 10 years of experience in the accounting, financing, and management fields. However, Laguna’s August news did not stop there. The next day, the company acquired exclusive distribution rights for Swiss-made CBD skin care products. Although the foundations were in place for Laguna to be tapping into the skincare market, this had not been fully confirmed. Laguna has now entered into an agreement with ISO International, LLC, through which it has acquired the exclusive rights to market, promote, and distribute seven different cannabidiol (CBD) products, produced by Cannaceuticals of California. The CBD products will be incorporated into Laguna’s established affiliate marketing network.

Last but not least for the month of August, Naturally Splendid gave a public update on Laguna Blends’ Pro369 hemp protein growth and pro athlete brand strategy. Laguna and NSE previously entered into a manufacturing agreement for Pro369 after Laguna declared that it had beaten its sales projections for the first 11 weeks of sales. Today, Laguna is negotiating with a collection of professional athletes in the U.S. and Canada who see the benefits of hemp protein.

For more information, visit www.lagunablends.com

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With over 29 million Americans living with diabetes, and more than 86 million with prediabetes, this disease is the seventh leading cause of death and swallows approximately 20% of nationwide healthcare spending, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics (http://nnw.fm/uUEx3). Healthcare officials, patients and doctors alike are always actively searching for new therapies or innovative yet affordable treatments to combat this disease.

This is where leading biopharmaceutical company MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ: MNKD) and its groundbreaking inhalable insulin product Afrezza® come in. Touted as the first successful insulin inhaler on the U.S. market, Afrezza is a fast-acting inhalable insulin powder designed to be used in conjunction with regular type 1 and 2 diabetes treatments to help lower post-meal blood sugar spikes.

Beginning in July, MannKind relaunched Afrezza Inhalation Powder on the domestic market under its own branding, and the treatment is now available with major wholesalers, as well as by prescription in any retail pharmacy.

Leveraging its two-year experience in patient selection and copayment, the company has also announced several programs to promote patients’ access to Afrezza therapy. These include:

• Enhanced copay assistance designed to lower insured patients’ out-of-pocket cost to $15 per month
• Patient reimbursement support program, MannKind Cares
• Bureau to educate and inform healthcare providers about the benefits of Afrezza
• New titration pack that allows patients new to Afrezza more flexibility in adjusting their daily dosage

The new programs will join MannKind’s national salesforce, all of whom have extensive experience with diabetes and Afrezza, in its efforts to help enhance and streamline patients’ and providers’ experience with this key therapy. The company is committed to ensuring the treatment remains available to all diabetes patients in the U.S., without any disruption in supply.

The July relaunch came after the company released six more analyses of the pre-meal treatment, demonstrating a faster onset and shorter duration of action than with mealtime fast-acting insulin treatments. The findings, presented at the 76th scientific session of the American Diabetes Association, show that, compared to Eli Lilly and Company’s (NYSE: LLY) insulin lispro injection, Afrezza has a 50% faster onset and a 2-3-hour shorter duration of action.

The data supports the use of this therapy for rapidly controlling high glucose levels, according to the chief medical officer of MannKind, Raymond W. Urbanski, MD, PhD. Unlike injectable insulin, which risks causing hypoglycemia after a meal if dosed incorrectly, Afrezza works in the body more rapidly and leaves the bloodstream faster, offering an ideal balance between glucose control and a lower risk of hypoglycemia.

To find out more about MannKind Corp. and its innovative Afrezza Inhalation Powder insulin, visit www.MannkindCorp.com

Earlier today, eXp World Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: EXPI) announced the commencement of real estate brokerage operations in Alaska. Following this announcement, the company’s real estate brokerage division, eXp Realty, is now operational in 41 states across the country, as well as Alberta, Canada, and the District of Columbia. To date, the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage™ has attracted more than 1,500 of North America’s leading agents and brokers by leveraging an aggressive revenue sharing program and a host of collaborative tools made available through a unique, fully-immersive cloud training environment. The company’s brokerage operations in Alaska will be overseen by Brandon Tatum and Frank Zellers.

“Frank and I are excited to have the opportunity to bring eXp Realty to Alaska,” Tatum stated in this morning’s news release. “We’re looking forward to introducing the concept of agent-ownership and the idea that you can work alongside with and build relationships with some of the best agents in the business on a daily basis without having to go to a physical office or travel by plane or boat.”

News of the Alaska launch builds on what has already been an incredibly eventful week for EXPI. On Monday, the company released its second quarter financial results, reporting a 137 percent year-over-year increase in revenues to more than $13.2 million for the three-month period. This financial growth coincided with a 111 percent year-over-year increase in agent count for the company’s real estate division. Likewise, EXPI’s cash and cash equivalents at June 30, 2016, were up 207 percent from the second quarter of 2015. With a continued commitment to agent ownership, support and engagement, the company is strategically positioned to build on this impressive growth in the months to come.

The foundation for this growth has already been set through eXp Realty’s entry into new markets. Since the end of Q2, the company has already launched operations in both Utah and New Jersey, as well as Alaska. EXPI has also made moves to bolster its leadership team, adding industry veterans Rick Miller and Randall Miles to its board of directors on July 20. In the news release announcing these additions, Glenn Sanford, CEO of EXPI, referred to the move as “tremendous,” adding that the new board members “bring deep and diverse expertise” to EXPI and “give greater independence to its composition as the Company progresses.”

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.eXpWorldHoldings.com

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The blockbuster success of Comcast’s (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Universal Studios production, ‘The Secret Life of Pets’, which did a whopping $104 million plus in its first weekend at the box office and raked in over $254 million worldwide in just 11 days following its debut – is no surprise to the folks at OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO). The company’s OurPets® brand, in particular, which consists of high-end designs crafted to suit the ergonomics as well as psychology of our beloved animal friends, has become synonymous amongst “pet parent” consumers with the very best that they can give to their animals – animals who are increasingly treated as bonafide members of the family, complete with all the associated spending horizons.

This growing tendency among pet owners to treat animals as fully-fledged members of the family has several obvious market dynamic impacts, with consumers across all segments (but particularly the high-end consumers) spending markedly more on their beloved animals. Central Garden & Pet Company (NASDAQ: CENT) certainly has been feeling the juice, with long-term EPS growth projected around 10 percent.

Retailers are actively cashing in on the success of ‘The Secret Life of Pets’, and the collaboration with PetSmart to do a special collection of pet accoutrements branded to the film (which have been selling like hotcakes) speaks volumes about sector potential and marketing, especially for an ingenious design shop like OurPets, where the recent roll out of the company’s Intelligent Pet Care™ line of Bluetooth/Wi-Fi connected feeders, water fountains, waste systems, and usability devices, such as the SmartLink™ Tag for a pet’s collar, has been received by consumers and industry players alike with great enthusiasm.

A rock-solid IP war chest of over 170 issued and pending patents, which accounts for roughly 75 percent of the company’s revenues, was recently augmented by a shining example of why consumers have come to love OurPets as much as they love these animated films – as OPCO announced general licensing in early June of its bonded polymer material technology for pet bowl bottoms. The company has a variety of high quality polymer bonded stainless steel bowl designs available through its Durapet® brand (as well as via private label) and its fierce/successful defense of its proprietary polymer bonding on stainless steel technologies is a clear shot across the bow that investors would be wise to take note of.

This is a visionary company with elegant designs that speak directly to the most lucrative segment of the pet supply consumer space, and it is as militant about defending its IP portfolio, as it is shrewd about knowing when and how to do so.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com

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In his immortal treatise on the conduct of warfare, The Art of War, Sun Tzu Wu, commander of the Ch’i armies, stressed the importance of indirect tactics or doing things differently. The English military historian, B.H. Liddell Hart, in his The Strategy of Indirect Approach, published in 1941, later examined this point. Captain Liddell Hart analyzed important historic battles and came to a conclusion that validated Sun Tzu’s 2,500-year-old maxim that battles are won by those who attack their opponent’s weaknesses. This is a principle that the captains of Moxian, Inc. (OTCQB: MOXC) know all too well. In the company’s latest 10-Q, filed just a few days ago, this credo appears:

“Where we believe we are different from other companies is that our plan is to sign up merchants first and build our user base utilizing their customers. Many companies utilize a different strategy of building up a user base first and then signing up paying merchants and other clients to access that user base.”

That Moxian strategy is aimed at China’s mammoth Online-to-Offline (O2O) market. The company has built an online platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that already operate brick-and-mortar establishments, which will enable them to extend their marketing reach. The platform, named Moxian+, is one that will not only give SMEs an online presence but also create an ecosystem of merchant clients and shoppers through its social media features. Moxian+ consists of a User App for shoppers and a separate app, called the Moxian+ Business App, for merchant clients. Both versions of the App are currently available in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, where they can be downloaded free of charge.

The Moxian+ platform has five main components. The first is its ecommerce capability. Merchant clients can advertise and promote their products, on the one hand, while shoppers or users, as they are referred to in the Moxian universe, can order products for later delivery. The second component consists of MO-Points Rewards and the MO-Coins Virtual Currency. Users can obtain MO-Points when they shop online, which allow them to participate in activities sponsored by merchant clients. MO-Points can be redeemed at merchant clients’ online shops or can be redeemed for MO-Coins, which can be used at any merchant client’s physical store location.

Users can also play games on Moxian+. This third useful component is linked to the fourth, which is Moxian+ as a social media engine that allows users to connect with each other and with merchant clients. Users can also, naturally, make new friends, discuss interests with old ones, and share pictures and videos. The fifth component of the innovative Moxian+ platform is its data analytics capability. Merchant clients are able to receive regular reports on a variety of demographic and purchasing data generated by users, giving them insightful intelligence to construct effective marketing campaigns.

As its 10-Q states, Moxian’s strategy is to quickly add merchant clients with subscription accounts. Users will follow naturally, building on the base of existing customers that the online locations already have. The company has already signed up over 30,000 merchant clients in Shenzhen, China, for test versions of the platform. These provide a fertile base to be targeted for upgrade to subscription accounts on Moxian+.

The O2O industry has emerged rapidly as one of tremendous potential. An article in Inc. magazine explains ‘Why O2O Commerce Is a Trillion-Dollar Opportunity’ (http://nnw.fm/U1cPb). The most attractive features of such platforms appear to be their data analytics faculties. The Inc. piece enthuses that:

“Equipped with O2O tools and services, business owners would have an unprecedented level of accuracy in their online marketing and, for the first time ever, would be able to reliably determine ROI from online advertising. Until recently, that technological ability simply did not exist.”

The report went on to point out that Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) had invested about $3 billion in O2O technology and that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that ‘over 93 percent of purchases still take place offline, which accounts for over $4 trillion each year’. In China, where Moxian is operating, the numbers are even larger.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Moxian.com

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Despite its more than five and a half decades at the forefront of the domestic precast concrete market, Smith-Midland’s (OTCQX: SMID) recent coverage gives the impression that the company has only recently sprung into existence, fully armored, like Athena being born from the forehead of Zeus. Currently enjoying a nice pop following the release of its Q2 financials on August 11, shares of this ceaselessly innovative precast concrete manufacturer are now trading around pre-2008 highs, with considerable tailwind in the form of numerous recent project successes.

Globally speaking, the precast concrete industry itself is seeing something of a rebound, after a tough recession period and ongoing adjustment to China’s growth slowing down. A recent study by DecisionDatabases (http://nnw.fm/0Uqia) even projects a CAGR of 3.2 percent moving forward through 2022, when the global precast concrete market is expected to reach upwards of $58.7 billion.

Subsequent to the post-2008 dip (http://nnw.fm/nKW0s) that was experienced by just about everyone, SMID has been a portrait of the old adage that, “slow and steady wins the race.” The company has quietly been advancing the state-of-the-art in precast concrete design, manufacturing, and delivery systems, while landing contract after contract. This constant innovation is readily exemplified by the company’s high-performance SlenderWall™ system, a lightweight (66 percent lighter than traditional precast) architectural cladding system, which is as robust as it is easy to install. Recently described by Rodney Smith, chairman and CEO of Smith-Midland, as the company’s most profitable product, the SlenderWall is a feature-rich and proven system that not only addresses the typical cost and logistical metrics of competing solutions beautifully, it actually offers superior structural advantages as well. This exterior cladding system is effectively isolated from wind loading, seismic shock, expansion/contraction, movement of the underlying steel frame, and other structural forces experienced by the primary structure.

Fully code compliant and available with a proprietary (optional) Lift-and-Release™ panel-landing system, which allows an already simplified installation to be done even faster, SlenderWall is also the only wall system in the industry today to fuse together the four key technologies required for an efficient solution that can easily be applied to either new construction, or renovations. By skillfully leveraging its architectural precast concrete manufacturing expertise, Smith-Midland has found a way to embed high-tech PVA fibers into its products, making the SlenderWall cheap to install, yet able to provide a long lifespan of maintenance-free use. And these beauties are secured with a combination of thermal coated anchors and heavy gauge galvanized steel (or stainless steel studs), making this lightweight solution far more sturdy and long-lasting than one might ever expect.

SlenderWall is the perfect economical and efficient choice for a variety of 20,000 square foot plus jobs, whether it is a renovation like the 2013 Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore Campus nine-story Nelson Harvey inpatient facility) job (http://nnw.fm/7NmdW), or a massive new undertaking like the recently announced 2-mile-long Port Imperial redevelopment project in West New York, New Jersey. This sizable (42,000 square feet of SlenderWall) undertaking with New Jersey’s largest homebuilder, K. Hovnanian (NASDAQ: HOVNP), is a striking example of how prominent SMID has become as an east coast precast concrete manufacturer.

Smith-Midland primarily serves the construction, transportation and utilities markets, as well as the agricultural, beach restoration (via Beach Prisms, a shoreline erosion control barrier system) and small precast building markets (via wholly-owned subsidiary Easi-Set Industries), with a wide variety of brilliantly designed solutions that it sells, licenses, and/or rents to various customers. The company actually cut its teeth back in the 1960s as Smith-Cattleguard Company, which was founded by Rodney Smith and his father when the business was just about precast concrete farm products. This rich tradition is still carried on today in the form of an array of highly durable cattle guards and feed bunks, as well as waste storage and watering systems.

The market’s warm reception to SMID’s Q2 financials is not surprising given that the company’s long-term growth story (slightly hampered by an admittedly sluggish Q1) has been supercharged of late by increased opportunities in several of its primary end markets, due in large part to generally improving underlying economic conditions as well as the company’s own continually growing brand presence. Perhaps the most notable market here for the company is transportation, where SMID operates via its Concrete Safety Systems (CSS) subsidiary. CSS was founded in 1977 as the then nascent industry’s first and only entity focused specifically on leasing highway safety barriers to contractors and state highway departments. CSS is a full-service barrier rental company that delivers, installs and then carts away the company’s J-J Hooks positive connection barrier system, which is ideal for roadwork (freestanding, bolted or pinned), and also security functions (especially when configured with an optional fence top).

CSS is housed at the company’s primary 44,000 square foot facility in Virginia. Between this primary facility, the company’s Smith-Carolina 8,000 square foot facility and the soon to be 40,000 square foot Smith-Columbia facility, SMID will have an enviable 300 mile-wide striking distance up and down 800 miles of the East Coast. This is a considerable territory, stretching all the way from New York City, to the southern Georgia border. The new Columbia location shores up coverage of the Atlanta metropolitan area nicely for SMID, as well as nearly a dozen military bases throughout South Carolina and Georgia, putting Smith-Midland’s legendary ability to innovate front and center when it comes to aggressing a whole host of projects in the region.

In many ways, the precast industry is overshadowed by the looming predominance of government initiated infrastructure projects, but SMID has done a marvelous job diversifying into the rapidly growing residential and commercial construction arenas. At the same time, SMID has positioned itself perfectly to benefit from the $305 billion, five-year highway infrastructure bill passed late last year in December (http://nnw.fm/T70sk), and the company is likely already experiencing a boost because of the bill’s passing. With presidential candidate Trump talking about building a wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico (a project that would require setting up localized construction facilities for regional manufacturing the way SMID has done for the East Coast), it is not unthinkable that a company such as Smith-Midland could experience considerable upside on sector momentum alone, even without landing any contracts.

But it’s not like the company even needs such a huge project, as even a cursory glance at this year’s news reveals a spate of sizable contracts. Contracts range from an Easi-Span Building used in Illinois as a township’s water supply aerator, to a set of two massive Virginia DOT road projects, which will utilize a whopping 300,000 square feet of the company’s proprietary SoftSound™ sound absorptive composite panels. In the last decade of official data alone, we have added some 6.5 percent more paved roadway to the U.S. nationwide, bringing the total number of miles of paved roads up to well over 2.744 million. Demand for outdoor noise barriers, primarily associated with stopping traffic noise from reaching residential communities, is slated to rise 3.7 percent per year through 2019 in the U.S. alone, according to a recent study by Freedonia (http://nnw.fm/N9mfF). That same study sees the overall U.S. market as growing to $191 million over the same interval, as a good chunk of that $305 billion highway infrastructure package looks like it could go directly toward state DOTs putting up more noise barriers alongside highways.

Smith-Midland is the portrait of an under bought niche leader and remains quite accessible to the average retail investor at around three bucks a share, especially when compared to other sector players such as CRH plc (NYSE: CRH), and that is despite SMID trading very near to its 52-week high. With many, many takers for its cutting-edge precast solutions, a perfect storm of potentials exists for the company. Smith-Midland also just so happens to have the unquestionable experience and leadership needed to truly capitalize on this storm of potentials for its shareholders.

For more information, visit www.SmithMidland.com

Earlier today, Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) announced the launch of its new Premium Service for owners of alternative lodging listings, which is designed to even the playing field between homeowners and travel industry suppliers. According to the news release, major travel industry suppliers – including airlines, hotels and car rental companies – employ cutting-edge tools that allow them to actively manage their rates on a minute-by-minute basis in order to react to competitive pricing, utilization and other market conditions. As a result, these suppliers are able to efficiently maximize revenues. Using Monaker’s Premium Service, individual property owners can enjoy many of the same benefits. Key elements of the service include:

• Active management of the homeowner’s calendar, opening the door for real-time booking capability
• Comprehensive management of guest communications ranging from booking to checkout, including inquiries, booking requests and 24/7 emergency assistance, offering the potential to save multiple hours each week that are normally required to manage listings
• International distribution across global booking platforms with native language conversions and pricing available in all major currencies
• Customized revenue and pricing management tools that update property pricing on a daily basis to better reflect real-time market conditions

For Monaker, the launch of its Premium Service is a win-win. According to the company’s pilot marketing efforts, Premium Service clients can expect to see an increase of 50 percent or greater in year-over-year booking revenue while enjoying a substantial reduction of about 10 hours per week to the time required to manage listings. By offering these industry-leading perks, Monaker expects to enjoy added success in attracting more individual and unique properties to its rapidly-expanding alternative lodging inventory. In a shareholder update issued in June, the company reported approximately 1.1 million alternative lodging rental units under contract with its NextTrip Resorts platform, with plans to add more than 200,000 additional timeshare or resort units by the end of the year.

“The Premium Service leverages our deep expertise in inventory acquisition, reservations services, technology and distribution,” Bill Kerby, chairman and chief executive officer of Monaker, stated in a news release. “We see this as a win-win scenario, ultimately delivering more real-time bookable inventory to the market, and greater choice in inventory to travel consumers.”

According to a report from Research and Markets, the global vacation rental market is expected to reach $169.7 billion by 2019. Additional insights reveal that roughly 24 percent of leisure travelers have stayed in a vacation home rental during the past two years, while about 47 percent are interested in staying in an alternative lodging rental during the next two years. All told, the alternative lodging market “is known to be one of the fastest growing segments in the Travel space,” as alluded to by Kerby in the news release.

For more information, visit www.MonakerGroup.com

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Late last year, when Star Mountain Resources (OTC: SMRS) acquired the Balmat zinc mine near Gouverneur in St. Lawrence County, New York, its president, Mark Osterberg, spoke to North Country Public Radio. At the time, according to the news report, zinc was selling ‘for just pennies on the pound’. Prospects for the metal looked grim. Yet the Star Mountain management team was casting a perspicacious eye to the future. Osterberg, noting that his company was well aware of the economic climate, said at the time:

“The mining cycle is down, which means that assets like Balmat are available at bargain prices. So we think we bought the property at a very good price and we believe the commodity prices are going to come back up.”

His crystal ball has not let him down, as current market conditions indicate. Zinc prices are climbing, and so are Star Mountain’s fortunes.

At the start of this year, zinc prices were hovering around $0.65 per pound. Now they are closer to $1.02 per pound, appreciating by an astonishing 57 percent in a little over seven months. The consensus attributes this buoyant market to tightening supplies. A Reuters story warns that ‘Zinc deficit looms, prices up, but output restarts unlikely’ (http://nnw.fm/z8GmU). A Bloomberg piece declares a ‘Zinc Supply Crunch as China-Owned Miner Seeks Peru Deposits’ (http://nnw.fm/S7G9m). Peru has the world’s third-largest reserves of zinc, with an estimated 25 million tonnes (metric tons), after Australia, with 63 million tonnes, and China, with 38 million tonnes, according to Statista. The ‘China-owned miner’ in that Bloomberg report was MMG Limited (OTC: MMLTF), an Australian-Chinese mining giant.

Last year, MMG Limited, in a report (http://nnw.fm/m8LPU) on its website, announced it had shuttered its mining operations at Century in Australia. The Century mine was said to be the world’s third largest. In 2014, it produced 465,696 tonnes and accounted for around 3.5 percent of global zinc output in that year. Its 2015 production has been estimated at 350,000 tonnes. Supply anxieties have been further exacerbated after Vedanta Zinc International (NYSE: VEDL) closed its Irish Lisheen mine in October 2015. Lisheen was Europe’s second-largest zinc mine with a capacity of around 175,000 tonnes, according to a HardAssetsInvestor story (http://nnw.fm/J2wFh). Quoting Bloomberg Intelligence, the story said Lisheen’s closure would reduce global supplies by another 1.3 percent. Adding to the supply slump news is a Bloomberg Business report (http://nnw.fm/Pf0Nu) stating that Glencore plc (OTC: GLNCY) would cut output from mines in Australia, Peru and Kazakhstan totaling around 500,000 metric tonnes, which would amount to about four percent of global production. Taken together, these closures will have reduced global supplies by between 7-10 percent.

At a recent conference call, the CEO of MMG Limited said:

“There is so little zinc around. Those people who are in zinc are also bullish about the zinc market so they don’t want to sell. That’s why we keep coming back to the focus we’ve got on finding zinc.”

All of this proves how sagacious the management team at Star Mountain Resources has been. Heading the team is CEO Joseph Marchal, who previously served as chief executive officer for the Asia-Pacific Region of Chi-X Global Inc., a subsidiary of Instinet, the equity-trading arm of the Nomura Group. President and COO Mark Osterberg, PhD has worked for major gold and base metal mining companies and has over 30 years’ experience in the mining business. The CFO is Wayne Rich, who was previously the chief financial officer of Northern Zinc. Star Mountain acquired a 100 percent interest in Northern Zinc, which, in turn, acquired all the issued and outstanding common stock of Balmat Holding Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiary, St. Lawrence Zinc Company, LLC, which owns the Balmat Zinc Mine.

Thomas Bidgood, PhD is VP technical services. He has over thirty years’ experience in the operations and exploration sides of the mining business and, from 2001 to 2011, was professor and chairman of the natural sciences and math departments of the Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, CO. The operations manager is John Heinzig, who was previously director of private equity funds at Summit Capital USA. Ryan Schermerhorn is site manager. He was previously site manager of St. Lawrence Zinc Company’s Balmat Mine and Mill from 2009 through 2015.

For more information, visit www.starmountainresources.com

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If Ralph Waldo Emerson’s theorem, paraphrased as ‘build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door’, is valid, OurPet’s Company (OTCQX: OPCO) is following ‘a broad hard-beaten road’ to success. OurPet’s Company got into the pet care industry precisely to make the aphoristic mousetrap better. It’s doing that and making new mousetraps too. Writing in 1855, Emerson was expressing his belief that ‘common fame’, what we would now call a good reputation, would eventually make itself known, which is true for OurPet’s Company, a company with a reputation for innovation. It is a company that aimed to revolutionize and disrupt the rather staid pet care industry and has already been doing so for over 20 years. The rewards from this creative approach have been showing up in both the top and bottom lines.

Net revenues have increased steadily over the past five years, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.86 percent. This is well above the industry CAGR of 4.44 percent. OurPet’s Company’s sales in 2010 were $17.1M. The latest 10-K filing reports sales in 2015 were $23.8M. Gross profit has been improving, as well; and so has the gross profit margin, which has climbed from 23.6 percent in 2011 to 31.7 percent in 2015. Particularly encouraging for shareholders has been the moderate increase in outstanding shares, which went up by a little over 10 percent during the last five years. In addition, net income per share has risen by 600 percent from a paltry $0.01 in 2011 to $0.07 in 2015. Taken together with the increase in income available to shareholders, this shows modest dilution risk.

OurPet’s Company has been serving the pet care market since 1995. It started with just one product: the Big Dog Feeder®. Since then its product line has exploded. The company has approximately 1,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) available to customers over a diversified range of product solutions. Added to the current product offerings is a broad pipeline of now-developing and soon-to-be-developed products and line extensions based on OurPet’s Company’s 160 patents issued and pending.

OurPet’s Company’s strategy is to focus on high-growth categories in the pet care market, which overall is expected to reach $62.75 billion in 2016. The company is in the feeding and storage systems segment, which is estimated at $100M annually, with novel products such as the Barking Bistro®, the High Rise Diner® and its OurPets® Tilt-A-Bowls. It has a foothold in the $250M a year feline waste and odor control category with its SmartScoop® Intelligent Litter Box, Kitty Potty™ No Touch Litter Box System and the OurPets® Switchgrass Natural Cat Litter with BioChar.

It’s also blazing a trail in the toys and accessories segment, which is estimated at $1.0 billion annually, with the amazing OurPets® Catty Whack® and the Intelligent Pet Care® line of products. The Intelligent Pet Care® line applies Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies to keep us in closer touch with our pets by signaling changes in their behavior through digital applications. OurPet’s Company’s mission statement is ‘to exceed pet and pet parent expectations with innovative solutions’. They might have added investor expectations to that declaration.

For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ourpets.com

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Before the opening bell, Monaker Group, Inc. (OTCQB: MKGI) announced a new agreement with Trisept Solutions, a division of The Mark Travel Corporation. Through this partnership, Trisept will both power Monaker’s flagship NextTrip.com brand with its Synapse travel merchandising platform and distribute its alternative lodging inventory through VAX VacationAccess, Trisept’s premier travel agent portal. This agreement is expected to fuel NextTrip’s forward growth by enabling expanded product offerings and distribution in the months to come.

“Trisept has the most advanced technology available for leisure vacation packaging today,” Bill Kerby, chairman and chief executive officer of Monaker, stated in this morning’s news release. “Expanding NextTrip’s capabilities and access to agents and consumers will accelerate our growth and differentiate us from our competition.”

By integrating NextTrip’s product offerings into Trisept’s VAX platform, Monaker’s sizable inventory of vacation home rentals, resort residences, rooms and unused timeshares will be available to a network of over 70,000 travel agents. NextTrip’s inventory will give these agents an easy, commissionable option for selling vacation rentals to clients. Integration of NextTrip into both Synapse and VAX is expected to take place over the next several months, with the companies setting a target completion date of the end of this year.

Monaker’s newly-announced distribution agreement with Trisept continues to build on the development strategy the company’s management team outlined in its June shareholder update. In addition to searching out new channel partners in order to broaden distribution of NextTrip’s more than 600,000 properties, Monaker has remained focused on structuring new relationships with established travel clubs, operators and distribution groups. In the June update, the company’s management team highlighted new relationships with the Recruiter.com Travel Club and 20,000 travel agents via International Travel Organization, and its newest agreement with Trisept is expected to play a key role in continuing to expand the distribution capabilities of the NextTrip platform.

Moving forward, Monaker will look to build on the number of alternative lodging rental units available on its NextTrip Resorts platform. The company boasted an impressive 125,000 available units following the beta launch of its platform in February, and it reported roughly 1.1 million total units under contract in early June. This sizable inventory, combined with the distribution capabilities of Trisept’s VAX portal, could set the stage for considerable market growth as Monaker continues to bolster its foothold in the growing travel industry.

“Integrating NextTrip’s product offerings into our VAX platform will give agents for the first time instant confirmation and an easy, commissionable way to sell vacation rentals,” John Ische, president and chief executive officer of Trisept, concluded in an August 15 news release.

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