Collectors Universe's Diamond Grading Division GCAL Adds Top Diamond Branding Consultant
to Marketing Team
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Collectors Universe, Inc.
(Nasdaq: CLCT), a leading provider of value-added authentication and grading services
to dealers and collectors of high-value collectibles and diamonds, today announced
that Diane Warga-Arias, a well- known diamond branding consultant, has joined Gem
Certification & Appraisal Lab's (GCAL) as a consultant to its marketing team. Diane
Warga-Arias currently works with the Diamond Promotion Service (DPS), a unit of
ad agency JWT. JWT is the agency of record for the Diamond Trading Company (DTC),
which is the sales and marketing arm of the De Beers Group. GCAL, a division of
Collectors Universe, is based in New York's Diamond District and also now owns the
Gemprint diamond identification and registration system. After completing the acquisition
of GCAL and Gemprint, Michael Haynes, Collectors Universe's Chief Executive Officer,
and Don Palmieri, GCAL's founder and President, asked Warga-Arias to bring her marketing
and communications skills and her strategic business acumen to GCAL.
Diane Warga-Arias brings over 10 years of marketing consulting services in diamond
branding. She continues to consult with DPS where she has been contributing since
1996. Warga-Arias also has assisted DTC to support this diamond sightholder in its
transition from a mining company to a marketing linchpin. She also brings to GCAL
significant experience in the role of sales training and consumer education.
Chief Executive Officer, Michael Haynes commented, "Diane Warga-Arias is one of
the most knowledgeable and experienced consultants in diamond branding and we are
pleased she has joined our team. We believe this is another step in our effort to
penetrate this new and promising market. We expect that Diane will lead GCAL in
becoming a driving force in the diamond authentication and grading market."
"What made GCAL attractive to Collectors Universe also makes GCAL attractive to
me," stated Warga-Arias. "Publicly traded companies bring greater transparency and
accountability to the markets they serve. Product integrity and public trust will
remain key objectives for our changing diamond industry. I look forward to helping
the diamond industry learn how GCAL's certification and Gemprint identification
and registration services will help promote trust in diamonds and to develop co-marketing
plans for dealers and retailers to increase their diamond sales."
About Collectors Universe
Collectors Universe, Inc. is a leading provider of value added services to the high-value
collectibles and diamond markets. The Company authenticates and grades collectible
coins, sports cards, autographs, stamps currency and diamonds. The Company also
compiles and publishes authoritative information about United States and world coins,
collectible sports cards and sports memorabilia, collectible stamps and diamonds.
This information is accessible to collectors and dealers at the Company's web site,
http://www.collectors.com, and is also published in print.
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains statements regarding our expectations about our future
financial performance which are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified
by the use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan,"
"estimate," "project," or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should,"
"could," or "may."
Due to a number of risks and uncertainties to which our business is subject, our
actual financial performance in the future may differ, possibly significantly, from
our expected financial performance as set forth in the forward looking statements
contained in this news release. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to: the possibility of changes in general economic conditions or conditions
in the collectibles markets, such as a possible decline in the popularity of some
high-value collectibles, which could result in reductions in the volume of authentication
and grading submissions and, therefore, the fees we are able to generate; a lack
of diversity in our sources of revenues and our dependence on coin authentication
and grading for a significant percentage of our total revenues, which makes us more
vulnerable to adverse changes in economic and market conditions, including declines
in the value of precious metals or recessionary conditions, that could lead to reduced
coin and other collectibles submissions, with a resultant reduction in our revenues
and in our income; the fact that five of our customers accounted for approximately
27% of our net revenues during fiscal 2005, which means that our operating result
could decline if any of those customers were to terminate or significantly reduce
the business that they conduct with us; our dependence on certain key executives
and collectibles experts, the loss of the services of any of which could adversely
affect our ability to obtain authentication and grading submissions and, therefore,
could harm our operating results; increased competition from other collectibles
services companies that could result in reductions in collectibles submissions to
us or could require us to reduce the prices we charge for our services; the risk
that we will incur unanticipated liabilities under our authentication and grading
warranties that would increase our operating expenses; the risk that new service
offerings and business initiatives that we may undertake will not gain market acceptance
or will increase our operating expenses or reduce our overall profitability or even
cause us to incur losses; the risk that our strategy to expand into new collectibles
and other high value asset markets, such as the diamond market, primarily through
business acquisitions, will not be successful in enabling us to improve our profitability;
and the risks that we will be unable to successfully integrate the businesses that
we acquire into our operations, or that those businesses and the services that they
provide will not gain market acceptance, or that our business expansion may result
in a costly diversion of management time and resources and increase our operating
expenses and possibly cause us to incur losses. Additional information regarding
these and other risks and uncertainties to which our business is subject is contained
in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for our fiscal year ended June 30, 2005 which
we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 13, 2005.
Due to the above-described risks and uncertainties and those described in our Annual
Report on Form 10-K, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking
statements contained in this news release, which speak only as of its date, or to
make predictions about future performance based solely on historical financial performance.
We also disclaim any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained in
this news release or in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. Contacts
Joe Wallace
Chief Financial Officer
Collectors Universe
949-567-1245
Email: jwallace@collectors.com
Ingrid Shieh
Investor Relations
The Piacente Group, Inc.
212-481-3019
Email: ingrid@thepiacentegroup.com
SOURCE Collectors Universe, Inc.
02/09/2006
CONTACT: Joe Wallace, Chief Financial Officer of Collectors Universe, +1-949-567-1245,
jwallace@collectors.com; or Ingrid Shieh, Investor Relations of The Piacente Group,
Inc., +1-212-481-3019, ingrid@thepiacentegroup.com
Web site: http://www.collectors.com
(CLCT)