OrderWare picks up where Genie Systems left off

By ADAM GIFFORD

Eighteen months after the collapse of Auckland software company Genie Systems, its successor, OrderWare Solutions, is making a comeback.

Genie Systems went under in October 2001 owing $3.2 million after listed venture capital company Strathmore was unable to raise a second round of funding.

The final receivers' report shows its assets were picked up by Australian company Smarter Capital for $880,000. That was enough to pay first and second debentures of $432,000 - both held by Peter and Rachel Garden - and about half the $133,000 in employees' preferential claims, but left other investors out by $638,000, staff down by a similar amount, and Inland Revenue out $641,000.

Unsecured creditors, whose debts totalled $1.14 million, got nothing.

Shareholders Estute Investments and Smarter Capital put a further $1.34 million equity into the new company. Most of the developers switched over to the new company.

Companies Office records show in its first eight months OrderWare had revenue of $2 million and lost $166,000, largely because of exchange rate shifts.

Chief executive Peter Garden said revenue had increased in the financial year ending June 30.

Smarter Capital is an investment vehicle for Steve Killelea, the chairman and chief executive of ASX-listed software company Integrated Research.

Killelea said Smarter Capital was a long-term investor that, as well as putting working capital into OrderWare, provided mentoring and advice for management.



Order Ware continues to sell its order management product, now called Javelin Server, to large customers such as Toys'R'Us, Universal Music in Australia and Blue Star Print Group.

Garden said that, as well as using Javelin Server to take special orders in its Babies'R'Us subsidiary, the United States toy giant had now bought it to handle the home delivery side of its distribution business and its dotcom business which included a subset of the Toys'R'Us range displayed on Amazon.com.

The strongest growth is coming from OrderWare's Fusion Server integration tool, formerly known as Business Integrator. A recent buyer was healthcare products group Smith + Nephew which needed to integrate a BPCS system with Foodstuffs' electronic purchase orders.

OrderWare