Ann: Nexbis to IPO TrustDefender , page-4

Alas the marriage didn't last long, TrustDefender wants a divorce and Nexbis wants a divorce settlement.

Nexbis got my attention over a year ago when it blipped on my radar after posting a second consecutive year of EPS growth during the GFC.

Ever since then there have been a series of events that just get more and more bizarre:

- there was the Vietnam contract that they won then got pulled because it did not go open tender;

- the Malaysian contract got stalled and has been in limbo ever since with an "in principal" agreement to restart (no word yet on wether it's been recommenced);

- their primary cash cow, the China gas tank project was halted and they did not inform the market that the project was in limbo until their preliminary final report, it took an ASX query for them to elaborate on the details where they state the project will recommence with an enlarged scope and they'll be managing the project (they bought the management rights for the project but need to obtain some certification before the project recommences);

- their once strong cash in bank balance has all but dried up (hence the series of capital raising), though there is still some strong customer receipts in their last cash flow statement but not enough to be cash flow positive;

- there was the confirmation of them working on a mega deal with the Cambodian government valued in the vicinity of $700 million, several months have passed by with no update;

- they announced they won the Maldives immigration contract, a few days later they hit up the market for more money. There were rumours that the project was halted pending an investigation which triggered an ASX announcement that Nexbis had received assurances that the project was still going ahead. This project was due to start in December, surely Nexbis owes its long suffering shareholders an update on wether the Maldives project has started;

- they had a rights issue capital raising handled by a Chinese firm, I'm guessing it's because they would not be able to raise the money here;

- now we have the latest instalment, their doing an IPO for TrustDefender, personally I think TrustDefenders been a disappointment, thought it's got a number of credit unions as customers it's failed to reel in a tier one financial institution here or abroad despite all the pilot programs it's got running. I remember an article with Ted Egan where he stated that they would sign up a major Australian bank within three months and to date there has been no announcement.

I pulled my money out of Nexbis after I read their full year report, it was the same regurgitated spin as their previous years financial report.

The one thing that puzzled me about Nexbis is why did the directors buy so many shares in the company? Normally this is a good thing, a sign of confidence in a companies future. They bought shares in advance of bad results, why would you buy shares in a company you run if it's not doing well?

Another thing that puzzled me is why are there so many institutions on their share registry? I read a Fairfax article that quoted a source as saying this is their last chance to start getting some runs on the board before the institutions lose faith in management.

I get the feeling that this financial year will make or break the company in it's current form.