Dotbomb bosses back for more

LEADING lights behind two failed dotcom companies are planning an unlikely stock market comeback. Phil Derry, former boss of Euro Telecom, and Karl Watkin, founder of J2C, are major shareholders in ZTE UK, a joint venture between Chinese telecoms group ZTE and UK-based RedComm.

State-owned ZTE plans to use RedComm, a Chinese business development company, to step up its operations in the UK, tackling rivals such as Marconi, Nokia, Alcatel and Motorola in the troubled telecoms equipment market. Derry, RedComm's chief executive, said he would seek to attract outside capital 'in the not too distant future' to fund growth.

Euro Telecom folded less than a year after it was brought to the junior AIM stock market by entrepreneur Chris Akers. The Department of Trade and Industry and the Stock Exchange are probing its collapse. Derry and finance chief David Linell attracted controversy for some of Euro Telecom's deals. Amanda Stavely, a Euro Telecom nonexecutive, even hired detective agency Kroll to investigate them. Asked what lessons he had learned from the Euro telecom debacle, Derry said: 'I'd insist on a strong financial director and strong financial controls.'

Directors of J2C, formerly known as Just 2 Clicks, made a fortune, but other investors lost out when the internet business was wound up last year and £33m was returned to shareholders. Watkin netted £3.4m, while entrepreneur Luke Johnson and Labour MEP Alan Donnelly bagged £2m and £1.2m respectively.

ZTE provides handsets and network billing systems for telecoms, communications and transport industries.