Wilson Neill filings under scrutiny before listing

By Nicholas Bryant

Friday 28th July 2000

Everything is on track for the new-look Wilson Neill to return to main board status on the Stock Exchange but there are some gripes about the company's late filings.

Wilson Neill director Paul Hyslop said the company had almost completed its listing documents and would ask for shareholder approval at its annual meeting next month to return to the main board.

"I don't know why there would be any unhappy Wilson Neill shareholders. I don't think there's too many companies in New Zealand where the share price has gone up in excess of 1500% in the last year," Mr Hyslop said.

Wilson Neill shares, which trade on the secondary board, started the year at about 1c, have traded above 20c on the back of acquisition announcements, and have sat steadily at about 15c for a couple of months.

Wilson Neill directors, keen to see things go smoothly at the company's annual meeting on August 22, answered allegations from activist shareholder Ian Andrews.

"I am on the verge of instructing a barrister to deal with Mr Andrews, the directors of this company have given their all to add value and of 8000 shareholders only one complains," Mr Hyslop said.

But Mr Andrews, an Auckland accountant, maintains the board has an unacceptable standard of corporate governance for a company aspiring to a main board listing.

His gripe is the late filing of statements of fair value required by the Companies Office within a month of new share issues.

Mr Andrews' scrutiny of Wilson Neill's filing has drawn the attention of the Companies Office before and it has reprimanded Wilson Neill's chief executive Trevor Mason over the matter.

The maximum penalty for late filing, of which only a director or directors, not the company, can be found culpable, is $10,000.

Mr Andrews has identified nine cases of late filing since the reprimand and is hounding the Companies Office for action.

But Mr Hyslop said while he accepted the matter did not reflect well, there were extenuating circumstances.

"Trevor was late filing a few things but the man's had two heart attacks and has been in hospital for half the year. It's very unfair to pick on a man who only last week had a triple bypass.

"It was remiss of Trevor. Although he hasn't been well it should have been done," Mr Hyslop admitted.

As well as a ruling on the late filing, Mr Andrews is also expecting the Companies Office to rule on whether some of the issues were not disclosed to shareholders as they should have been.

Meanwhile, the statutory suspension of trading placed on Perth-based mining concern Mount Conqueror, listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, should soon be lifted.

Wilson Neill has back-door-listed into Mount Conqueror with the intention of using the company as a vehicle to further roll out its wireless internet company Radionet.

Mr Hyslop said he was confident the Australian deal would add significant value to Wilson Neill and that Radionet's operations were progressing well. He cited its recent alliance with technology giant Siemens as proof and signalled further major deals were in the offing.

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