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From Truck Bed Liners To Bridges And Cellar
Doors, Steadfast Holdings’ Spray-On Protectant Product Is Preventing The
Breakdown Of Metal Thereby Lowering Costs For Their Commercial Customers And
Helping Create A Safer Environment
Consumer Products
Automotive Aftermarket
(STHG-OTCPK)
Steadfast Holdings Group, Inc.
625 North Flagler Avenue, Suite 605
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
Phone: 203-466-8000
John Calash
Chief Executive Officer
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFOinterviews.com
Published – April 18, 2008
Company Profile:
Steadfast Holdings Group distributes a variety of products to the automotive
aftermarket, and has proprietary products which are used in commercial and
consumer applications. The core business is its spray-on protectant product,
which in the case of truck bed applications, offers specially formulated
polymers that permanently bond to the truck's bed. Steadfast's spray-on
Polyurea products represent a remarkable technology with a range of uses
limited only by imagination. These spray-on products are also utilized in
commercial, industrial, agricultural, military and custom applications where
this tough coating is used to protect everything from metals to concrete
against chemicals, solvents, fuel, etc. In addition, the Company's
automotive division is a licensed dealer for the following aftermarket
products: A. R.E. Truck Caps and Lids, Tool Boxes, Nerf Bars, Tube Steps,
Running Boards, Rack Systems, Rail Caps, Tonneau Covers, Fender Flares,
Grilles, Visors, Bug Shields, Roll-Up Covers, Side Rails, Mud Guards, Floor
Mats, Lights, Trailer Hitches, Stainless Steel Accessories and Lift Kits.
Steadfast also has distribution agreements with the several companies that
manufacture light truck aftermarket products
CEOCFO: Mr. Calash, what is the vision for
Steadfast?
Mr. Calash:
“Our vision for the next 12-18 months is to extend our brand out and the
game plan is to extend the brand out through licensees. Steadfast is a
three-part company. Number one we are a commercial coating company. We coat
bridges; we do a lot of military work, a lot of metal reinforcement. The
second half of it, is we have an automotive store and we do spray on bed
liners and we sell a variety of parts and accessories. The third part is
licensees. We currently opened up two stores in Florida that are our first
two licensees and we project to open up another 30-50 more within the 12-18
month period.”
CEOCFO:
How do the three parts of the company break out, and where do you see the
growth coming from?
Mr. Calash:
“The majority of our growth right now will come in all three parts. With the
commercial coating company we just signed a $400,000 deal to do basement
doors; we are going to coat them for Connecticut Cellar Doors. We are going
to expand that agreement and we are also working on a few deals right now
with military application for reinforced doors.
As the company grows, we are going to be looking to expand into either
purchasing or starting up our own chemical companies so we are
self-sufficient. So every time a store sells, that store will sell more
chemical, which means the chemical company will grow. Thereby, every
commercial job that’s done, it will be growing through not only the use of
the chemical but naturally the revenues that we will be charging the
companies that we’re doing the commercial coatings for.”
CEOCFO:
With regard to your coating parts in store; what is it that you provide and
why should companies be using you to do this?
Mr. Calash:
“The commercial coating that we use is a Polyurea paint mix. It is the most
important reason why, the price of metals is going up through the roof and
it’s going to continually go up through the roof for the next two years. The
reason why they should do this, because you need to protect it and a lot of
the bridges that have been failing, and one of the reasons they do fail, is
because of the breakdown in the metal. Our product will help that and stops
and seals and the metal from rusting and corroding.”
CEOCFO:
Is there much competition in the industry?
Mr. Calash:
“There are three large players right now. There’s Rhino and Linux and then
there’s us. We know we are competitive with Rhino and Linux and we have been
holding our own, if not gaining market share.”
CEOCFO:
How do you drive business?
Mr. Calash:
“We drive business threefold. We do the spray on bed liners and that through
the dealerships and word of mouth. We also do a lot of television and direct
mailing. The commercial side of it us basically word of mouth and we are
constantly looking to good jobs. We get a lot of them through our contacts
in the military and interstate.”
CEOCFO:
Please tell us about the automotive products.
Mr. Calash:
“With regard to our automotive products, we just came out with a product
called Rejuvenator. What a Rejuvenator does is after you spray your bed
liner, after 12-18 months, the sun dries out the liner and the liner starts
discoloring. So we just came out with a product called Rejuvenator, which
can be applied to any existing bed liner, and what it does it brings it back
to life.
It’s similar to an Armorall that they use inside that there use for cars,
but this is applied directly to the bed liner and it is a coating. We also
have just made some recent deals with Tire Master to sell and distribute
Tire Master with the Steadfast name through our stores.”
CEOCFO:
How do the retail stores fit into the mix for Steadfast?
Mr. Calash:
“The retail stores are the most key to the mix, because what we service is
contractors, basically contractors and truck owners. As we service them, we
spray their bed liners. They are also getting inquisitive to how they can
use the product in their fields. The bed liner material that we sell through
our stores is the same material that we use for coating bridges and the
Humvees. Therefore, we’re getting a lot of leads through our retail stores
into our commercial coating business.”
CEOCFO:
What is the plan for the rolling out of the stores?
Mr. Calash:
“We got a little bit of a jump start on the stores. As I said, we currently
have just opened up Deerfield in Florida. Cocoa Beach, Florida has been
opened up for approximately three months. We are currently looking at
Gainesville and Fort Lauderdale. We hope to have them open in the next 60
days. We plan to start rolling them out this spring, sometime in the end of
April. We will be going to the franchise shows in Florida and rolling out
the licensees, but they are actually licensees they’re not Franchisees.”
CEOCFO:
So you have a target of 50 locations for this year?
Mr. Calash:
“That would be 50 locations, per year for the first five years.”
CEOCFO:
You are starting in Florida; where else would you like to be and what is
your criteria?
Mr. Calash:
“Florida is first then Texas and then we want to go to The Carolinas, North
and South Carolina. We’re trying to go straight up and down the seaboard. It
will be easier for us to distribute the product shipping wise.”
CEOCFO:
How do you stay focused when you are going in a number of different
directions?
Mr. Calash:
“That’s a great question. At the part of licensee stores everyone is into we
have a gentleman we just hired his name is Dominic Acquarillo. He is going
to be the head of our commercial coating industry. He has 20 years of
experience in commercial roofing, so he’s going to be a great acquisition.
We are also in the middle of hiring a person that will just be in charge of
the franchisees and they will be located in Florida and will be naming that
person approximately in two weeks. Therefore, we are going to
departmentalize everything and he or she is going to be in charge of their
department. Together, so far so good and it’s been working out pretty well.
CEOCFO:
What is the financial picture like for you today?
Mr. Calash:
"We started at a half a million dollars worth of gross last year. Without
any acquisitions, we hope to get between 7 and $10 million this year and we
hope to grow at least 50% a year for the next five years.”
CEOCFO:
There seems to be a steady stream of new orders.
Mr. Calash:
“We are hungry, constantly going out there and have a great team. The
company isn’t actually a nine-year-old company, and we just went public
about six months ago. Most of the people that are on board now have been
with us for at least three to four years and we’re all very focused and very
excited about the future.”
CEOCFO:
Tell me a little more about the military side of the business.
Mr. Calash:
“We are currently just finishing up a contract for Savage Arms and Gun Maker
and what we just did for them was a military ballistic test, actually this
one will be going to the coast guard. We also have done Humvee work for
them, when we sprayed their Humvees and we’ve done a lot of bomb testing
trucks for the state police. Military applications are endless. There was
actually a television show on Saturday; it was for our competitor, but they
were actually spraying a building for the military and it was actually on
the Discovery Channel. It showed how the coatings help protect against even
bombs. They actually had a car bomb with 30 pounds of TNT and exploded the
car bomb next to a building that was coated front and back and the building
did not fail. Therefore, the coatings are going to be more and more part of
our everyday use, not only in bridges but the price in metals are going up,
and you know, security wise, it just protects the metal. The investments are
getting larger and larger so the commercial applications are going to grow
in the next three to five years.”
CEOCFO:
Do the decision makers that would put the coatings on bridges realize the
need or do they need to be convinced?Mr.
Calash: “It was in two
fold and when we did our first bridge it was probably four years. We had to
convince them, but it was five years ago and the bridge is holding up
perfect. It was coated once and never has to be coated again, /that’s the
key to the whole thing. Once it’s done once, it’s done for life. You don’t
have to keep going back and painting it, the coating is good for a lifetime
and like I said, its been about five years now with that bridge and it still
looks great. It’s in Connecticut and it’s called the Thomason Bridge.”
CEOCFO:
Address potential investors; there were a lot of newer companies or newer
public companies for people to look at, why should people be looking at
Steadfast and what might people miss when they first do look at the company?
Mr. Calash:
“One thing that we want everybody to understand is that, we are not a spray
on. We are a spray on bed liner, but that is one small portion of the
future. We are basically a coating company, a protection company. We hope in
the near future, in the next two years to either acquire through
acquisitions or we will start our own chemical company and that’s just a
look at what the future’s going to be. Commercial coating is going to be a
large part of our budget in the U.S in the next three to five years.”
CEOCFO:
Final thoughts, what should people reading this interview take away?
Mr. Calash:
“People should take away that Steadfast is so far in the first six months
firing on all cylinders. We are growing the company at a great rate and we
are all very excited to continue and see what the future brings.”
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