Interesting Unicomp history

[Ellipse]

Today I learned from some 10-K filings that Unicomp was acquired 7 years ago and then acquired by another company last year - I was not aware they were part of another company. Some details from the filing are copied below. The 2017 acquirer appears to focus on CRT monitors among other lines of business, while the 2023 acquirer appears to be a real estate business which is also owned by the same person.

"On October 23, 2017, the Company [VIDEO DISPLAY CORPORATION] acquired Unicomp, Inc., a keyboard manufacturer for a purchase price of $200 thousand. The Company paid $100 thousand in cash and a note with the seller for $100 thousand. The $100 thousand note is non-interest bearing with expected payment in fiscal 2019. The fair value related to the purchase price consideration has been allocated to inventory. The Company acquired Unicomp as an opportunity to develop, market and sell Tempest keyboards for its cyber security division."

"The acquisition of Unicomp added an additional $0.5 million in sales from October 23, 2017 to February 28, 2018. They are currently developing a new line and are expected to produce approximately $1.4 million in sales in the new fiscal year."

Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data ... 00d10k.htm

"The Company [VIDEO DISPLAY CORPORATION] sold its two business units in Kentucky, Lexel Imaging and Unicomp, on December 1, 2023, which did not have a viable plan to get to profitability...On December 1, 2023, the Company sold all the outstanding stock and rights to ownership of its subsidiaries Lexel Imaging, Inc. and Unicomp LLC, to Ordway Properties LLC, a related party owned by the Company’s CEO, for the total purchase price of three hundred sixty-five thousand dollars ($365,000) in a non-cash deal. Ordway Properties in exchange for the two subsidiaries forgave $365,000, of rent payable owed by Video Display Corporation...Unicomp GA LLC had net sales of $0.7 million and a net loss of $0.2 million before the sale."

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data ... 28_10k.htm

2023 annual report: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/ed ... 19d10k.htm
The keyboard division, Unicomp, had $80 thousand of gross margin dollars or 8.7% to sales for the year ended February 28, 2023.

2022 annual report: https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/ed ... 77d10k.htm
The keyboard division, Unicomp, had $363 thousand of gross margin dollars or 27.7% to sales for the year ended February 28, 2022.

2021 annual report: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data ... 67d10k.htm
The keyboard division, Unicomp, had $526 thousand of gross margin dollars or 39.1% to sales for the year ended February 28, 2021.

2020 annual report: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data ... 20d10k.htm
The keyboard division, Unicomp, had $430 thousand of gross margin dollars or 37.6% to sales for the year ended February 29, 2020.

2019 annual report: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data ... 65d10k.htm
The new keyboard division, Unicomp, had $558 thousand of gross margin dollars or 38.9% to sales for the year ended February 28, 2019.

[nac5605]

Good find!

[modelf]

Could help explain why their new legal name is Unicomp GA LLC, why they moved to a new location, and why they're out-of-stock on some of the accessories they used to keep on-hand pretty much all the time.

[webwit]

So the previous new owners couldn't pay rent, and sold to the landlord to settle it? That doesn't bode well.

Unicomp GA LLC had net sales of $0.7 million and a net loss of $0.2 million before the sale.

Ooh that's pitiful. I started a small webshop two years ago and closing in on that (minus the loss). Eclipse is probably, well, eclipsing that.

On the other hand, yeah it's 2024 and they hardly entered this century so it is still a long run.

[Hak Foo]

The way it's phrased, it sounds like the same person owned Video Display and Ordway.

If it was the same, why are they charging their own company rent in the first place? I wonder if it's an accounting or tax game, moving around losses and forgiveness to create some number palatable to an outside investor or regulator, or if they needed to be producing some nominal "fair market value" by creating a history of the buildings being rented for later sale.

[thefarside]

The way it's phrased, it sounds like the same person owned Video Display and Ordway.

If it was the same, why are they charging their own company rent in the first place? I wonder if it's an accounting or tax game, moving around losses and forgiveness to create some number palatable to an outside investor or regulator, or if they needed to be producing some nominal "fair market value" by creating a history of the buildings being rented for later sale.

That’s what it sounds like. Probably one owner restructuring the finances across the companies. I’m not surprised about the $80k gross margin given in 2023 given they had supply chain issues and moved to a new building but It sounds like they were doing around $1M/year before that which isn’t bad for a niche product.

[Touch_It]

Happy they are still going. Prices have definitely increased a lot since I bought mine in 2014.

[JP!]

Happy they are still going. Prices have definitely increased a lot since I bought mine in 2014.

Just checked out their prices and they have gone up a fair bit within the last 1-2 years...

[keycap]

I doubt their quality has gone up much either. Glad they finally started offering an SSK though

[JP!]

Early 2022 vs. today In this economy it's going to be an even harder sell. Also how did we lose a pound? We are getting less and paying more

2024-10-25 13_30_23-Unicomp, Inc._ New Model M.png (222.37 KiB) Viewed 572 times

2024-10-25 13_30_39-Unicomp GA LLC_ New Model M.png (221.62 KiB) Viewed 572 times