E-Force in red by $1.6m

WELLINGTON - Listed Christchurch firm E-Force had an after-tax loss of $1.6 million for the year ending February 29 as it transformed itself into an internet shopping business.

For the previous 12 months, when it was Paynter Timber Group, the company lost $192,000.

Since its launch on March 1 as an internet portal company, E-Force has built a base of 20,000 members.

The directors said E-Force's aim was to build a "critical mass of people to achieve aggregated buying power," and so directors were satisfied with progress.

The latest loss was after a pretax charge for unusual items of $934,000, including the loss on the sale of a subsidiary, restructuring costs and a loss on a rental. In the year-earlier period there had been an unusual gain of $450,000.

- NZPA