Following the release of figures showing a rise in operating profits from £380,000 to £830,000, 4Projects welcomed a visit to the company's headquarters in Sunderland from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, who was given a guided tour of the location and spent an hour talking with management and technical staff.

Mr Brown, who paid a previous visit to the then fledgling 4Projects in 2000, was clearly impressed with the way the company and the product have developed, saying: "I am visiting a company that has increased its workforce and managed its growth by investment, showing what can be done here to build a world-class company".

Richard Vertigan, Managing Director of 4Projects, added: "The visit of the Chancellor was a tribute to the way our company has prospered. When he last visited us, we were in the early stages of development. Since then, 4Projects has become synonymous with quality in the collaborative extranet business. We were delighted that Mr Brown spent so much time talking with our team, all of whom are extremely proud of our achievements." 

www.4projects.co.uk

In less buoyant a mood, BIW Technologies Chief Executive Colin Smith acted swiftly to correct assertions made by a 4Projects director in the press. 

A story published in Contract Journal on the 20th October made apparently inaccurate references to BIWs funding and its software licensing practices.

The article suggested that BIW had "received significant venture capital funding," and also claimed that the company sold perpetual licences for its software, rather than seeking monthly customer subscription payments.

BIW's Smith wrote to the Editor of Contract Journal on the 22nd October pointing out that both assertions were untrue and that unlike BuildOnline, BIW directors and staff continue to hold more than 45% of their business and that their funding was used to establish the robust infrastructure and industry-strength application software provided to their 38,000 users.

He also confirmed that BIW does not and has never sold perpetual licences for its software and that like 4Projects, they seek monthly subscriptions from their customers, and account for these revenues only in the month they receive them.

www.biwtech.com

It seems that BIW's Smith has invested considerable time in combatting what he asserts is misleading media coverage. 

Two autumn stories in two construction industry journals highlighted supposed uncertainties about BIW's future should it have to pay nearly £500,000 of back tax to the Inland Revenue, following a dispute over the eligibility of R&D claims during the 36 month period to September 2002 and some in 2003.

Companies can offset money spent on R&D investment against their tax bill. Loss-making firms can either store up their entitlement to offset until they make a profit, or apply to the Inland Revenue for a cash advance equivalent to the savings on their future tax bill. BIW received these tax credits as cash, but the Inland Revenue is now conducting an inquiry into whether BIW met the rules of the scheme.

Smith has written to both publications, protesting to one that the article was: "unnecessarily sensationalist, one-sided and misleading, includes several material inaccuracies, omits key background and adds unhelpful and untrue insinuations by a BIW competitor". The full text of the letters can be seen at:

www.biwtech.com/pressroom/pressreleases.asp

Continued . . .