Investment Opportunities - April 2000

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You may have been wondering why I have steered clear of DOT.COM ventures and only recommended 'bricks and mortar' startups to date.

Well to tell you the truth, I have found the notion of companies under a year old, with market valuations exceeding 100 times their annualized revenue, and angry red balance sheets as far into the future as can be reasonably predicted, a tad risky.

However, not wishing to appear too conservative, I have got you details of a Guernsey bank, Ladlows, St. Peter Port, who have begun domain-sitting.com, which is a rather neat idea.

To avoid the pitfalls of 'web-squatting' on UK registered tradenames and having to hand your precious internet domain-name over to BigBully plc gratis, Ladlows will register an offshore company with the appropriate name and slosh a few million quid through it each year just as part of their regular business, so your domain-name is legitimized. You can then part with it for an appropriate amount of cash once BigBully plc recognize they aren't going to get it for free.

Ladlows charge a percentage of the domain-name sale price. I am not exactly sure what Ladlow's regular business is, however, as they wouldn't answer my questions on this point except to say that they do a lot through Coastal Italy and Spain. As always caveat emptor