World presence of Qbik being rebuilt

By PETER GRIFFIN

Tech entrepreneur turned music label owner Adrien de Croy is rebuilding the international presence of his software company Qbik, after ditching his worldwide distributor.

Qbik, which makes internet connection management and security software, was coming out of a period of "recession" said de Croy.

The company has just four software developers, but is a couple of weeks away from a major software release.

De Croy said currency changes had cut income by around 40 per cent while the move to dump Qbik's US-based distributor had disrupted business.

"The drop in value of the US dollar has been quite painful and interest rates have gone up," he said.

De Croy had a number of issues with his distributor and after repeatedly threatening court action decided to pull the plug. It came down to regaining control of Qbik's products.

De Croy and his team are managing sales, distribution and support from New Zealand.

"We hope we're on the upward path again, sales seem to indicate that," he said.

De Croy made his fortune from Wingate in the mid-nineties, when the software featured the then-novel facility of several internet users being able to share one connection. He said revenue from Wingate was still flowing but had slowed.

On the side, de Croy is making progress with music label Siren Records. The label has two promising acts in Golden Horse, which de Croy expects to make triple platinum sales (30,000 albums) with the Riverhead album and up-and-coming act Opshop.

He also owns York Street Studios, a recording studio frequented by local musicians.

De Croy was one of several individuals who had made sizeable fortunes in the tech sector but failed to register on the National Business Review's 2004 Rich List published last week.

The Rich List has a $25 million entry point.

Missing from rich list Navman founder Peter Maire was missing from the rich list, but with the recent completion of his company's sale to US marine giant Brunswick, he may well appear next year.

The final sale price for Navman is about $108.5 million. Maire is understood to receive a chunk of that - how much is not known.

After accumulating vast paper wealth with his listed telecoms venture Telemedia, entrepreneur Chris Jones is yet to scramble back on to the Rich List despite solid progress with Argent Networks.

While Marshal Software was sold last year for $45 million, the proceeds were divided between key shareholders which would fail to see them make the list.

No sign either of Murray Haszard, who in 1998 sold Binary Research's cutting-edge Ghost software to Symantec for about $50 million. In 2000, Haszard's wealth was estimated at $45 million.

Missing also is e-commerce millionaire Tim Williams, who last year had an estimated fortune of $30 million. The Japan-based founder of ValueCommerce made his money in software-based marketing products.

Those who made rich list Of those who made the list, Kiwi Steve Outtrim is the wealthiest with an estimated fortune of $110 million.

Outtrim sold out of Melbourne-based internet software maker Sausage Software in 2000 at the height of the tech boom.

He has been working on a new venture called Majitek, which is about smart building projects and mobile computing.

A handful of tech entrepreneurs saw their fortunes bouyed by the sale of internet provider ihug to Australian company iiNet.

The Wood family, brothers Nick and Tim Wood and father John, have a fortune of $60 million up from $30 million last year.

Malcolm Dick and Annette Presley, the owners of CallPlus and Slingshot, saw their fortune rise from $60 million to $70 million as a result of the sale of the iiNet shares they received in the sale of ihug.

Jade software founder Gil Simpson saw his fortune halve to $30 million according to the Rich List. It reflects his reduced stake in Jade, which was hit with sluggish sales last year. Simpson owns 11 per cent of the company and is philosophical. "If you're going to make money, you have to be prepared to lose it," he told the NBR.

Neville Jordan's fortunes have improved through investing in Endeavour Capital, which sold Virtual Spectator. Jordan, who made his fortune selling Mas Technology to the Americans in the late nineties, is up $3 million to $68 million.

Maurice Bryham's fortune remained static at $25 million despite a bumpy ride winding up failed venture capital company IT Capital and launching inflatable boat maker Sealegs.

The fortune Sharon Hunter made selling what in the mid-nineties was the country's biggest local PC assembler, PC Direct, has gone on to make her and husband Tenby Powell more money in other investments. Their combined fortune is up $2 million to $25 million.

Stephen Tindall, whose fortune dipped from $420 million to $390 million as a result of The Warehouse's difficulties, is yet to cash in on any of his tech investments, namely broadband provider Woosh Wireless and screen-maker Deep Video Imaging.

Peter Hoskins, Gil Simpson's business partner in the early days of the Linc software has slipped off the Rich List. Last year he was listed with $15 million to his name.

Qbik

Siren Records