House Call Doctor director Wayne Ormond says business profitable and will continue

The ATO has launched legal action against House Call Doctor but the former BRW Young Rich Lister behind the company maintains his business is profitable and will continue.

CALL A DOCTOR

THE ATO has launched legal action against House Call Doctor Pty Ltd claiming the outfit is insolvent.

But Brisbane bizoid Wayne Ormond maintains his firm providing house calls to about 250,000 Queenslanders a year is profitable and will continue operating.

The tax office filed a lawsuit last week to wind up the company over nearly $476,000 in allegedly unpaid debts.

Ormond, a former BRW Young Rich Lister who formerly oversaw now-defunct Refund Home Loans, told City Beat yesterday that he’s been locked in talks with the tax man for a few months over the dispute about GST payments.

That followed a creditor’s demand for payment which lobbed in late January.

“It’s a complicated issue when it comes to Medicare and essentially our accountants spoke to the ATO and they decided to go direct to court rather than deal with us direct,’’ he said.

“It’s just disappointing the ATO went down this road rather than continuing the discussions.’’

Ormond predicted that matter would be resolved in the next 24 to 48 hours following the resumption of talks.

Wayne Ormond pictured in 2009.

“We are profitable and there is no risk to patients,’’ he said.

“We are reassuring patients that there will be no change. House Call Doctor is not at risk. Let’s be clear, we don’t need them worried as we head in to the flu season.’’

Ormond said his company, which is based in Spring Hill and launched four years ago to provide bulk-billed home visits by doctors, turned over about $30 million last year. But he declined to reveal any specific figures on net profit.

It’s not the first time that a business Ormond had a hand in has faced financial drama.

After launching Refund in 2004 and spruiking it on morning TV shows, his firm collapsed in 2011.

Initial estimates suggested it had debts of $11.3 million but the most recent liquidator’s report from early last year shows it went down owing $12.5 million to 277 creditors.

AT IT AGAIN

Wealthy Brisbane tech titan Bevan Slattery is at it again.

The serial entrepreneur unveiled plans yesterday to bankroll the early stage development of two more tech ventures.

Seed capital will come from his sell down of 3.3 million shares in his listed firm Megaport, which has yielded him a cool $16.86 million. That still leaves him in control of about 13.5 per cent of Megaport’s issued capital, or 18.1 million shares, a stake he has vowed to keep intact for at least the next 12 months.

Tech millionaire Bevan Slattery. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Details on the new companies are sparse at this point and Slattery didn’t return messages seeking comment.

But the latest deal continues a busy period for Slattery, whose IT and telecommu-nications empire kicked off in the late 1990s when he co-founded iSeek and later, PIPE Networks.

Megaport raised another $50 million from investors in March, with Slattery offloading 5 million shares as part of the effort. That followed nearly $88 million raised last year even as the company suffered a $24.5 million net loss. The bad news continued in the December half, with Megaport reporting $16.6 million in red ink.

A similar dynamic is at play with his outfit Superloop, which raised $22.5 million in March even as it absorbed an $8.7 million net loss during the half-year.

Queensland Investment Corporation lobbed a $494 million takeover bid for Superloop last month but, after three weeks of exclusive due diligence, the two sides couldn’t strike a deal.

CIRCUIT BREAKER

Months of bitter infighting come to a head on Wednesday afternoon when shareholders in beleaguered dental group Smiles Inclusive meet in Brisbane to decide how they want to shake up the board.

Investors will consider resolutions to get rid of chairman David Usasz and his ally, director Tracy Penn, as well as their fierce critics, directors Mike Timoney and David Herlihy.

The outcome is expected to act as a circuit breaker for the loss-making Gold Coast company, which has performed disastrously since listing in April last year.