Intaz seeks more cash

By ADAM GIFFORD

Software developer Intaz has gone back to shareholders for a further $2.8 million to ramp up sales of its SafeTnet health and safety product.

The company announced a rights issue yesterday of 35,416,888 shares at 8c, to be completed on September 12.

"We are very happy with how the business is going, and based on that we see the opportunity to raise a small amount of capital from existing providers to make sure we can capitalise on our initiatives," said chairman Mark Taylor.

In April, Intaz raised only $5.3 million of the $10 million it sought from a public share offer. Its shares are traded on the unlisted securities market.

At the time it told shareholders it had to drop plans to establish an office in Britain and it was also delaying development of new modules.

Taylor said the new funds were needed to close deals in Australia, where Intaz has partnered with Oracle.

It also found an unexpectedly high percentage of small and medium enterprise customers in New Zealand preferred to lease the software for delivery over the internet for a monthly fee, rather than buy a licence up front.

"While it is very good to write 36 month contracts which are more profitable than the up front licence sale, it is more capital intensive," Taylor said.