WITH its scrip now in the doldrums, one-time high flyer Senetas Corporation will be weighing in with a $15 million loss for the latest June year. Attempting to spin the bad news into a “clearing the decks for growth” type report, the directors, headed by former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale, have decided to write off its $9.6 million investment in British outfit InfoProtect Plc.

Chairman Stockdale said key performance indicators had not been met. Also in red ink territory was a $825,940 US manufacturing licence, which has been written off. Stockdale told shareholders who have seen their scrip drop from 39 cents to 10 cents this year that Senetas also booked an operating loss for the latest year, and product sales revenue was significantly below budget.

Throw all those problems into the pot and you wind up with a $15 million pre-tax loss for the year in a set of accounts that were still to be finalised and had not been audited.

Stockdale reckoned most of the loss was “of a one-off nature” and that over the last year or so the group’s board had been restructured, directors’ loans repaid and corporate governance procedures regularised “to the highest standards”.

“Everyone’s attention is now on our top three priorities sales, sales, sales,” he said. GoldLink losses top 80 per cent

THE listed GoldLink twins continue to languish at less than 20 cents apiece, which means that folk who pumped money into these derivatives trading vehicles are now looking at losses of more than 80 per cent. GoldLink GrowthPlus and GoldLink IncomePlus have raised more than $120 million in recent years.

The GrowthPlus vehicle is showing no growth and and the numbers were red at June 30.

Richard Kovacsand co reckon that the unrealised loss of the investment portfolio at balance date was nearly $23 million and that directors are reviewing the carrying value of certain assets.

Asset backing at June 30 was 47 cents, but the directors report that if the values were “written down or written off” there would be a material reduction in net assets. The shares last fetched 18.5 cents. GoldLink Income shares are at 19.5 cents.

For the December half, the fees came to $2.6 million for the IncomePlus vehicle, and $257,280 for the GrowthPlus outfit.

For the 2005-06 year, the manager, a company associated with Kovacs, collected $6 million in management and performance fees from IncomePlus. GrowthPlus paid $2.3 million in management fees. Disappointment of the first water

ANYONE who imagined that shares in NSX would more than double there were some, apparently when it said it would buy a private company called The Waterexchange would have been very disappointed indeed. The shares did get a wriggle on, from 43 cents to 56 cents but weakened off to 51 cents. NSX, which runs the Newcastle Stock Exchange sorry, the National Stock Exchange is planning to issue no less than 25 million shares for the Waterexchange, which values the company at nearly $13 million. Missing from NSX’s bullish acquisition announcement was any mention of Waterexchange’s operating results. Interests associated with a director, Brian John Price, are one of the NSX’s largest shareholders.

A MOTHER of two died from a rare heart condition she did not know she had, after stubbing her toe on the pavement.

Kirsty Keenan, 35, cut her toe when she tripped in the street on an uneven pavement.

She died a month later, after the wound became infected and she developed septicaemia.

Ms Keenan was found unconscious by her partner, James Raeburn, 31, in their home in Leith, Edinburgh, after he collected their two children from school.

After experiencing pains in her leg following the accident, Ms Keenan had called the doctor, and was recommended to take painkillers.

It was only when she was rushed into hospital that they realised the wound on her toe had become infected.

Surgeons amputated both Ms Keenan’s legs in a bid to save her, but she died last Saturday as a result of a previously undetected heart condition.

Ms Keenan died at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh with her family at her side.

She had been suffering from a rare heart defect that she was unaware of, which resulted in the valves in her heart bursting and causing a bigger clot in her brain.

Her partner and children Terrilea, 11, and James, three, are now struggling to come to terms with her death.

Mr Raeburn, who had been with Ms Keenan for 13 years, said: “It has all happened so suddenly and we just cannot believe she is gone.

“She held on until the children could come and see her.

“Terrilea spoke to her and said she knew her mum would look after her from heaven, then I had to just say to them to leave now, because it was time for mummy to go.

“My priority now is to get the kids checked out in case the heart condition is hereditary.”

IF you knew Google like I know Google you’d probably be less surprised why the industry regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has stepped in to take the wildly successful search engine company to court.

It’s extraordinary really that Google can still hang on to its jolly, almost juvenile, public image as it’s become perhaps the most powerful information source in the world. Google is now part of our language our kids think that to research a subject is to “google” it and nobody can say Google has not made life easier.

The ACCC and its highly capable chairman Graeme Samuel have filed a case against Google in the Federal Court claiming that the company does not adequately distinguish pure search results and advertising or “sponsored links”.

Samuel has also cited a case where the Google system allowed a big company, Telstra, to have clear advantage over a small car dealership. This allegedly shows how companies with the deepest pockets can win the big rewards in a Google search.

The ACCC case could be an international landmark: internet advertising and the Google system are like the wild west right now, with few rules. They’re screaming for reform. The court action hit headlines all over the world (145 stories at last count and, yes, I got that statistic from Google).

At the very least the ACCC case will reveal to many people for the first time how Google actually works.

When you check a result on a Google page you are looking at a mixture of pure search results and sponsored links the sponsored links are at the top of the page and down the righthand side of the page and with every result you see in those sections of the page, someone has paid handsomely to be there.

In fact an entire industry has mushroomed around how you pay for Google “words”, the key to online search success. In our own start-up publishing enterprise we sometimes pay up to $30,000 a month for Google words. We also pay consultants to tell us how to spend this money. We could employ someone full time for the amount we spend on this service and I wonder how many times that scenario is repeated across the world.

The Google system is expensive, unavoidable and allegedly open to manipulation. It gives you some idea why Google is now worth $US162 billion ($A186 billion). The Silicon Valley company is a global online powerhouse with no serious opponent. Google makes more profits in three months than Yahoo, its nearest rival, makes in a year.

The ACCC is claiming that Google does not “expressly distinguish” advertising information from other information.

Google has called the case “an attack on all search engines” and will defend its corner.

However, in pursuing this line of inquiry in a court of law the ACCC will enable a public examination of the Google money-making machine and it will also highlight the mechanics of how some highly successful web stocks such as Seek and Wotif make their money.

It will be worth reading, and you’ll be able to read it first on Google News.

James Kirby is editor of Eureka Report, an online publication financially backed by Carnegie Wylie and Company.

Jk@eurekareport.com.au