Anything but pie in the sky

THE Australian operations of Internet kiosk supplier Pienetworks (PIE) have recorded their first positive quarterly cash flow.

But that figure of $63,000 was not enough to prevent the company from recording an overall loss for the March quarter of $32,000. Nevertheless, the result was a dramatic improvement on the December quarter cash burn of $426,000, and it left the company with a cash balance of $1.66 million.

Cash receipts from local operations ($711,000) were virtually steady compared with the previous quarter ($713,000), but Pienetworks’ quarterly costs were reduced from about $1.08 million to $648,000 after a restructuring late last year.

The company’s UK operations were $95,000 in the red for the March quarter compared with the previous quarter’s $61,000 result, with both cash receipts ($91,000 versus $230,000) and expenditure ($186,000 versus $291,000) falling significantly

Shares in Pienetworks continue to lurk at record low levels of about three cents, but the company’s directors are indicating they have faith in the company’s future.

Managing director Campbell Smith and director Robert McBrier each recently bought 500,000 shares in the company in on-market transactions, while another director, Diane Sias, outlaid $30,000 to buy one million PIE shares.