No more clicks as web group J2C closes shop

Andrew Callus

LONDON: British business-to-business Internet group J2C Plc, formerly called

Just2Clicks, on Friday gave up the struggle to keep going.

One of the pioneers of B2B web services in Britain, J2C said it had failed to

find a buyer and now planned to close all but one of its operations. The last

business, BestValueZone, is still for sale.

The closures were accompanied by a return of almost all its 36.1 million

pounds ($50.9 million) of remaining cash to shareholders in a 33-35 million

pound buyback at 35.5-37.5 pence per share. The moves were mooted in February

along with a number of other business rescue plans.

Shares in the group climbed 10.7 per cent to 31 pence in early trade, moving

towards the price of the buyback, which depends on shareholder approval.

Friday's first-half results told their own story of over optimistic investment

for the group, whose shares peaked at 10 times Friday's level in February 2000.

Turnover for the six months to March was just 0.7 million pounds against a

loss from ordinary activities of 34.2 million. The loss included a 26.5 million

"impairment of goodwill" write off - reflecting the steep fall in

Internet asset valuations over the past 15 months.

Despite the sale of a number of businesses earlier in the year, J2C continues

to burn cash at a net rate of 325,000 pounds a month. Even in the aftermath of

the dotcom crash since March last year, B2B operations - facilitators for

transactions between companies as opposed to pure "etailers" selling

to end users - were seen as still viable.

B2B take up below expectations



But activity for J2C has been slow to take off. "We have clearly
demonstrated that B2B markets can deliver significant savings but take-up and

usage of B2B generally has been far short of expectations," said chief

executive Karl Watkin.

"All our investors were made aware from the outset that our success

would depend on that take-up. J2C has managed its cash carefully. After

strenuous efforts to develop a future with a partner, we have been unable to

conclude a deal in the best interests of shareholders."

Shareholders will receive details of the proposed buyback scheme within six

weeks. The number of people employed by J2C has fallen from 135 at the peak to

58.

The surviving business, BestValueZone, is a combination of the businesses of

Industry On-Line and Tradezone, primarily focused on the provision of

e-procurement services to local authority and government organizations.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.