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| Subject: Re:It is believed ERG invested as much as $10 million (newspaper accounts) | |
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Author: anonymous |
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Date Posted: 11:20:04 11/14/02 Thu In reply to: anonymous 's message, "Re: hahahaaowned ERG Ecard -right14/11 30 mill R&D --tax concession" on 03:13:05 11/14/02 Thu ggecko1 (ID#: 413570) ERG sells Ecard (The Age) 15/11/02 6:01:57 AM 5709702 ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG cashes in its share of smartcard ventureNovember 15 2002 By Eli Greenblat ------------------------------------------------------------ Smartcard developer ERG has walked away from its two-year joint venture with Telstra and ANZ Bank, selling its 39 per cent stake in ECard for $5 million. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG said yesterday it considered the time needed for a return on its initial investment was likely to be longer than expected by shareholders. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG sold the stake under a selective buyback agreement, leaving existing shareholders Telstra and ANZ each with 50 per cent of ECard. ------------------------------------------------------------ It is believed ERG invested as much as $10 million in ECard in June 2000. It has since written down its stake to zero, thereby booking a profit on yesterday's sale. ------------------------------------------------------------ Shares in ERG closed steady yesterday at 15.5 cents. ------------------------------------------------------------ ERG, ANZ and Telstra invested $30 million in June 2000 to create the joint venture in an attempt to stimulate the smartcard market. ------------------------------------------------------------ However, the venture soon struck trouble with a number of its installations, including a big delay in a smartcard project covering 450,000 New South Wales TAFE students. ------------------------------------------------------------ ECard also faced intense market speculation that it was suffering funding shortages and a failure to win new business. ------------------------------------------------------------ ECard at present provides services to customers such as ANZ Bank, TAFE NSW, La Trobe University and Smart Visit Solutions. ------------------------------------------------------------ An ECard spokesman said the company was not profitable at this stage, but it had several new projects and could become profitable in the near future. There was new demand for a range of smartcard products from the existing customer base, and recent publicity on electronic fraud would bolster demand. ------------------------------------------------------------ The reporter holds Telstra shares ----------------------------------------------------------- [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
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| Re:Proton technology/Value added resellers/Keycorp/Ecard. | anonymous | 15:24:37 11/16/02 Sat |