Forum Archive Index - January 2001

["Ian Andrews" <iandrews@ihug.co.nz>]

Answering Charlie Brown's questions:

1

The Securities Commission has received all share trading records of WNC for 1999-2000 from WNC; & is "studying them in detail", but it is for the purpose of advising the government on any changes required in Insider Trading legislation. However, I want to see what arises from the study, because I intend following it up. The Wellington decision-makers will be back from holiday this week & they will be hearing from me. Ditto for the Auckland Companies Office, who  showed me 5 months ago they were preparing a prosecution recommendation for WNC directors for failing to file notices when they issued new shares, despite having been previously warned & agreeing it would "never happen again".(The non-filing meant it was impossible for anyone trading WNC shares to know how many shares were on issue, & specific requests I made to WNC for this information during this time went unanswered). The wheels of justice grind slowly but [hopefully] they grind exceedingly finely...

 

2

This question has been answered in a letter despatched to shareholders last Friday. IT Media publishes "NZ Rugby World", "NZ Fishing World", "Rip It Up" & will lauch a new business paper called "NZ Business Times". It runs websites Flying Pig, Fire-Engine, Toast & CD Star. It produces a Sky TV rugby programme called "Offside".A meeting will be called shortly [it had better be in Auckland this time!] to approve the purchase by issue of 250 million shares at 6 cents each.

WNC has a website at www.wilsonneillonthenet.com

 

It is clear the company is reinventing itself again & if a new board takes over, with no connections with the company's founders, it may have a future. But I do note the disappointment shareholders will feel on seeing the company lost $762,000 in the September half-year, on revenue of $7.1 million. It appears that, contrary to assurances, Cobb & Co ( which is a growing brand) cannot stem the leaks in Radionet; which looks like a dead duck. Igacu also seems to be performing well below forecasts.

In the Annual Report written after two-thirds of the first half year was completed, shareholders were told "the company can reasonably expect significant growth in profitability for the financial year ending 31 March 2001"

Shareholders are now told not only of actual losses at that time, but also .."losses [will] continue in the next half-year".

 

WNC has a current market capitalisation of about $27.5 million & Shareholders Funds of $10.2 million, mostly represented by intangibles. Directors will need to attend much more closely to issues of disclosure, corporate governance & accurate forecasting in the current investment environment to keep shareholders interested in continuing to pay 5 cents per share. I doubt they will survive in the current form unless they get the company into shape to apply for a Main Board listing ( but one could say the same of a few Secondary Board companies ) . It's a shame for New Zealand that we can't bottle the unbridled optimism of WNC investors.