Life's tough at NexbisCITY BEAT: Andrew Main | October 30,...

Life's tough at Nexbis
CITY BEAT: Andrew Main | October 30, 2009

NEXBIS director Peter Dykes must be wondering if he couldn't wind back the tape of life a bit and have another go.

Back in April he got in a bit of bother over a big night out he'd had in downtown Sydney, involving the usual angry taxi driver, a spot of biff, failure of recollection etc, although the beak didn't record a conviction and he was put on a good behaviour bond.

Now he's had to tell ASX that his company's plans to sell a security system to the Malaysian Department of Immigration have been slowed down due to budgetary constraints, change of government etc.

The Nexbis share price behaved like an errant A330 yesterday, dropping 10.5c to 19c.

We asked Nexbis about the project and a spokesman said it was about security stickers and ID cards for foreign workers in Malaysia.

Did they have many? "I don't have an exact number and I don't think they do either," was the deadpan reply.

Nexbis also has a promising project going, involving tracking gas cylinders in China, but yesterday all the focus was on the Malaysian hold-up.

The news can't have thrilled local hedge fund manager Orbis Holdings. Just over a week ago Orbis said it had cranked up its stake in Nexbis by 5.8 million shares or 1.3 per cent to 12.69 per cent, paying around 33c a pop. Oof.