Wilson Neill leaves its shareholders in the dark

By Deborah Hill Cone and Francis Till

Friday 9th November 2001

Secondary-board listed company Wilson Neill has just taken out a secured loan from Christchurch taxi operator-turned-financier Gold Band Finance but yesterday insisted the company was in sound financial health.

Gold Band Finance is a second-tier lender which charges higher rates of interest than trading banks, but Wilson Neill managing director Phil Vosper said it was chosen rather than a bank because there was a long-term relationship between the two companies.

It is impossible to verify Wilson Neill's financial position, given that it has yet to file its annual return with the Companies Office despite having a balance date of March 31.

The date was only recently changed to June 30.

A chatty circular to Wilson Neill shareholders sent out on October 24 reports an interim after-tax profit of $5.5 million for the year to March 2001 but does not include any financial statements to show how this figure was arrived at.

And this week the company's FlyingPig retail website was shut down by technology supplier eStar Online which claims it is owed almost half a million dollars.

Mr Vosper told The National Business Review he had "amicable" discussions yesterday with Matthew Darby of eStar Online and may come to a settlement over the issue.

Mr Vosper claimed he had also been contacted by six prospective buyers who were keen to buy the collapsed internet company.

The potential buyers were other website businesses, Mr Vosper said. FlyingPig was inherited with the acquisition of IT Media.

"It has been a difficult non-profit making entity - we could not see our way to generate the sort of returns are shareholders are entitled to," Mr Vosper said.

The Gold Band Finance loan, secured by a debenture over Wilson Neill's assets, was registered with the Companies Office on 11 October.

The priority amount is $1.2 million, which does not necessarily mean that is the amount that is owing but is the amount for which the debenture-holder is preferred against other chargeholders.

Companies Office records for Wilson Neill also show three charges to Bank of New Zealand dating from the early 1990s that have not been satisfied, but Mr Vosper said the records were wrong as there was no money owing to BNZ.

Meanwhile, Mr Vosper said he could not give details about the deal in which Transram was to take over a majority share in Wilson Neill from a group of shareholders.

Who individual shareholders sold their shares to had nothing to do with the company, Mr Vosper said.

Transram, jointly owned by Panamanian-based WeCU and one-year-old Hamilton-registered Genesis International Charitable Trust, announced in June it would buy 50.03% of Wilson Neill.

"That settlement to the best of my knowledge has not yet occurred - I have been told it is imminent," Mr Vosper said. "Until that does happen Wilson Neill does not really have any business with Transram."

It has been suggested by a source close to the company that Wilson Neill had paid $380,000 to individuals who put together the Transram deal, but Mr Vosper said that was incorrect.

Wilson Neill had nothing to do with the Transram deal and had not paid any money to anyone to facilitate it, Mr Vosper said. Wilson Neill expects to make an announcement within the next two weeks about the company's position and its future direction.

"We will announce the core of its future direction," Mr Vosper said.

Wilson Neill's investments include media company IT Media, wireless company Radionet and some hospitality assets.

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