Syft Technologies postpones announcements

Syft Technologies has cancelled a meeting to appoint a new chief executive who would have injected much-needed capital into the company.

The Christchurch firm was to hold a special meeting this week to appoint Andrew Barclay as chief executive and seek shareholder approval for a new round of capital raising.

But chairwoman Ruth Richardson said the meeting could not be held because "certain matters have transpired which alter the resolutions".

Syft builds "sniffer" machines that detect gas and chemicals, but sniffer sales last year were below expectation. The company has lost several million dollars.

In addition to Mr Barclay's appointment as chief executive, it was proposed that he buy a large amount of new shares in Syft at 0.88 cents a share, giving him a stake of almost 20 per cent.

Acting managing director Michael Hawkins said the cancellation of the meeting did not mean the deal with Mr Barclay was off. "Negotiating with Andrew [Barclay] is still in progress," he said.

The special meeting would still be held, probably towards the end of January.

Mr Barclay said he was still interested in being involved in Syft.

"Nothing has changed past some technical issues. It's just the timing that's the issue."

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