On 15th August 2000 we paid a dividend of $0.10 per share to shareholders of record 31st July 2000. Another dividend of $0.10 per share was paid on 28th February 2001 to shareholders of record 15th February 2001. During the year, the Company repurchased a net of 50,576 of its own shares, at an average price of $5.05, reducing shares outstanding to 614,931 after taking into account 48,500 shares issued as a result of the exercise of stock options. Shareholders will note that despite the repurchase of shares at a cost of $255,409, the Company is in a very healthy financial position with cash and deposits of $576,252 compared to $280,323 at the end of last year. Assuming earnings enable us to do so, it is our intention to continue to try and reduce the number of shares outstanding to 600,000 shares.
On behalf of the Board I would like to pay tribute to all our staff for their contribution to our earnings. In particular, I would like to thank Kevin Manuel, Doug Chase and Tracy Robinson for the excellent results, which are a reflection of their management talents, staff training and marketing and sales success. I would also like to express our appreciation to Graham Redford (our consultant) whose help and advice has been invaluable.
We look forward to the 2002 fiscal year with continued optimism and hope that steps which are being considered to improve our competitive position and to generate increased sales and profits will prove very successful.
In closing, I would like to thank my fellow Executive Directors, Crayton Greene, Susan Wilson and Bill Thomson for their contribution, knowledge and assistance during the past year.
Chairman