Underwood top in Vianet stakes

Published on Sunday 13 August 2006 00:42

A VALUE investor who was one of the first backers of Wolfson Microelectronics has built up a 21% stake in Vianet, the Aim-listed vending machine technology company.

Michael Underwood has emerged as the biggest shareholder in Vianet with a stake of 1.4m, ahead of institutions First Colonial, Artemis and Singer & Friedlander.

Underwood, who describes himself as a "serial venture capital investor", is believed to have made a substantial profit from his early investment in Wolfson, which floated three years ago. He is chairman of Envisional, an online security company, and his other investments include Amino Technologies, Clearspeed Technology, IP Group, Synairgen and TRL Electronics, all of which have floated in the past three years.

Vianet, led by chief executive Ian Orrock, has been re-inventing itself in the past year. The Dunfermline firm recently recruited David Lockwood, the former chief executive of laser technology company Intense and managing director of a division of BAE Systems avionics. Lockwood will bring experience of taking technology designed for one market and applying it to different markets. Orrock said: "We are delighted to have David on the board. He has a wealth of relevant experience."

Vianet's technology is used by vending machine owners to monitor stock and change levels. The firm is now looking at other applications for its technology, such as credit card metering and utility metering.

The company has cut staff numbers from 33 to 20 in the face of slow sales. In May it said it had completed a restructuring to reflect its transition from hardware development to a mobile service and applications company, reducing overhead costs by about 20% to about 160,000 a month. Orrock said the company should reach profitability this or next year.