Rental blip for net provider Iprolink

By ADAM GIFFORD


Staff at Auckland internet provider Iprolink had to down tools last Thursday after their landlord sent security guards in to seize office equipment until overdue rent and other bills were paid.

The landlord, Jim Benson, refused to accept a cheque from Iprolink owner Newcall, and the equipment was not released until a bank cheque was handed over the next morning.

Newcall chief executive Jim Bracknell said service was not disrupted.

Benson is a director of software developer Napier Computer Systems, which shares the Victoria St West building.

Napier Computer Systems and other shareholders sold the internet provider to Newcall for $3.6 million in 2000, when the sharemarket minnow was switching away from its business of selling toll calls.

Newcall, which is under the control of majority shareholder Charoong Thai Wireless, is now seeking a buyer for Iprolink, which mainly serves the business market.

Newcall chief executive Jim Bracknell said that what Benson did was legitimate and to the letter of the law, but it was not newsworthy.

"This is a dispute that goes back several years."

Benson said he took action as the landlord, not the former owner of Iprolink.

Both businessmen denied any link to a share dispute over Wellington-based internet company Citylink.

Iprolink is Newcall's sole remaining asset, although some money is still coming into the business from the sale last year of its Energy Online power trading operation.

A plan to get into the wireless internet market fell over this year after UCC, the company Newcall planned to merge with to pursue that business, went belly up.

But Bracknell said he was still working on opportunities for shareholders "which will more than justify the exorbitant salary I am being paid".

Newcall accounts for the six months to June 30 show the company, which started life as New Zealand Salmon, made an after-tax profit of $45,000 on revenue of $759,000, and is paying Bracknell $227,000 a year.