E-commerce leader quits in front

By PETER GRIFFIN

After steering his company through the dotcom wreck and the damaging collapse of Wilson Neill, EstarOnline head Matthew Darby has quit to pursue his passions - New Zealand business, advertising and technology.

Some would say he had all of those things in EstarOnline, the Christchurch software developer he founded in 1999.

But Darby, a former advertising executive, said he decided to move on last month after reading a Herald profile that summed up the highs and lows of his career.

"That was the motivator. I read it and thought, 'five years is enough'."

Darby resigns as director and chief executive but will keep his 5 per cent shareholding.

His brother, Simon, will also resign as director.

The brothers and their associates own about 25 per cent of the company, which has 194 shareholders and trades on the unlisted securities market.

Darby says the split with EstarOnline is amicable.

"I've said I wanted to make a clean break and just be a shareholder. There will be some new directors appointed."

Stuart Clark, a long-time EstarOnline employee, is the new chief executive. He refused to discuss Darby's departure or the state of the business.

The Darby brothers leave as EstarOnline appears to be coming right.

It came close to going under as enthusiasm in e-commerce plummeted. Then Wilson Neill folded, costing it $420,000.

Wilson Neill's e-tailing arm Flying Pig ran on EtarOnline's e-commerce software.

Other bad debts emerged and expected income dried up as customers went bust.

"When we got kicked in the guts the first time, my goal was to stabilise the company," said Darby. "We've done that over the last year.

"It won't show a profit for the financial year just gone but I'm confident it will show a profit for the [current] financial year."

The last set of accounts filed with the Companies Office show EstarOnline had revenue of $950,000 and lost nearly $800,000 - including bad debts of $358,000 - in the year to March 31, 2001.

In the previous year it lost $1.4 million on revenue of $211,000.

Darby, who had moved to Auckland to drum up business, said some good customer wins had been made, including EstarOnline picking up a contract to supply online merchandising software for the Rugby World Cup.

Darby wants to become a business mentor - a role which would not necessarily involve him being self-employed.

"I'd happily travel New Zealand for the rest of my life helping small and medium sized businesses grow into bigger entities.

"I've done the hard yards and I know the pitfalls."