Paynter Timber Group Announces E-Commerce EGM

8 February 2000

Paynter Timber Group Announces E-Commerce EGM
Two New Board Members, Eforce Products Announced

An Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders of Paynter Timber Group Limited (PTGL) is to be held in Christchurch on 23 February 2000 at 3pm.

Announcing the meeting, PTGL chairman Richmond Paynter said shareholders would be invited to approve PTGL’s plans to divest itself of its timber assets and to invest in New Zealand’s growing e-commerce sector.

As announced in December last year, PTGL has a conditional agreement to purchase from Mr Mark Fulton all of the shares of Eforce Limited. It is also proposed that PTGL will be renamed Eforce Limited.

Eforce will be the first and only publicly listed company that will give investors the opportunity to invest in the e-commerce sector based on the ‘infomediary portal’ business model. An infomediary is an Internet middleman who facilitates connections and transactions between buyers and sellers.

By inviting users to register as members, Eforce will create a substantial online community. Members will receive special offers on products and services as a result of the community’s combined purchasing power.

“This kind of aggregated buying has been heralded as the next wave in e-commerce,” Mr Paynter said.

As part of the proposal, Eforce members will be able to participate in the success of the company by buying shares, and therefore become both a user and a shareholder. After shareholder approval is granted, a prospectus and investment statement detailing the Eforce share offer will be issued.

The Notice of Meeting will be posted to PTGL shareholders on 8th February, detailing the terms and conditions of the proposal.

Mr Paynter said now is an opportune time for PTGL to create value for shareholders by entering the business to consumer e-commerce sector.

“Eforce is a unique concept and its creation represents the tremendous growth in the number of New Zealanders getting online”.

Over 1.1 million New Zealanders are already online either at work or at home, and are expected to spend US$ 275 million this year, according to research house, International Data Corporation.

The Eforce portal will be ‘live’ on the web immediately after the EGM on 23 February 2000 and will initially offer members the following products and services.

Powerchoice
Powerchoice enables Eforce members to compare the rates of their current electricity provider with rates of other local providers. Powerchoice quickly calculates and compares what their power bill would be from all power companies in their region. If members want to save money by switching power suppliers they can do so at a click of a ‘mouse’.

Amazon Freightlink
Eforce is an official associate of Amazon.com the world’s largest and most sophisticated online book and CD store. Air freight from the United States is expensive; however, Eforce can save members time as well as money through its ability to bulk freight members’ purchases which are then delivered directly to their home.

Subscribe Now
Subscribe Now is a centralised point for customers to subscribe to a range of different magazines from around the world. The magazines available range from specialised titles such as Netguide and NZ Snowboarder, to more generic New Zealand magazines such as Trends and Unlimited.

Co-Buy
Co-Buy is all about the power of people to move prices down. For any product available on Co-Buy, prices will reduce for buying one item, five items and 10 or more items. Each product’s price lowers as more customers indicate they are prepared to buy that product. The more people who are prepared to buy, the lower the price. Co-Buy will serve the NZ and Australian markets and is similar to US sites such as accompany.com and letsbuyit.com.

A further six Eforce products and services are under development which are specifically designed to save members/shareholders money on their daily purchases. These will be available progressively on the Eforce portal over the next six months.

Two new board members announced
Mr Paynter also announced the proposed appointment after the EGM of two new board members, Mr Guy Cook and Mr Mark Fulton. Mr Fulton will be appointed Managing Director of Eforce.

Mr Guy Cook is currently Vice-President of Qwest Communications, and brings immense expertise and experience in senior management and Internet communications to Eforce. Mr Cook founded Colorado SuperNet, the largest ISP in the Rocky Mountain Region. Qwest operates internationally delivering leading edge Internet systems and applications built with the industry’s most advanced technology. Qwest is listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of over US$30 billion.

Mr Cook’s other professional experience includes five years as staff director at the US House of Representatives, Telecom/datacom management experience with US West and founder of the South African Internet Corporation. He is a notable figure in the Internet business sector in the United States, having served on numerous boards and advisory councils and having made over 200 industry presentations in the past seven years, and brings extensive international experience and connections to the Eforce board.

Mark Fulton has extensive experience in finance, management and marketing both in New Zealand and internationally. This includes working as United States Financial Controller for the world’s largest deer fence manufacturing Company, Langley Industries USA, where he oversaw a growth in sales from US$4.1 million to US$11.5million, and has held general manager positions with Solidrock (Europe) Limited.

Mr Fulton has also worked in London implementing mergers and acquisitions for a United States investment bank and has owned an accounting systems consulting business. He has a BSBA (Finance and Marketing) MBA (Finance) from the University of Colorado and a Diploma in Internet Technology from the National College of Design and Technology, Christchurch NZ.

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