1. Where do you see the market going?
We have to break the question down into 2 parts. Firstly where is the equity market going? And secondly where is the Internet market going?

As far as the equity market is going, it can still go lower. Having got through the burst of the tech bubble, we are now seeing the same conditions; the same debt to equity ratio affecting many core businesses - for example manufacturing, airlines, telecoms, insurance companies. I think we still have a few more shocks to come out of the system first.

As far as the Internet market is concerned I think we're in a situation where there will be no new technology that is commercially viable which makes itself available over the next 12 months. There is a lot of new technology that can be delivered, but I don't think that any of it will work as far as being a commercially viable business that can be offered to the consumers or businesses. This will be advantageous because a lot of consumers and business are holding back at the moment. Having seen new technology coming on board so quickly and so many changes taking place, they've been holding back waiting for the next big thing. As soon as we see this vacuum in new technology it will give the consumers confidence and we'll see them start to purchase in the marketplace.

2. How do you see these market trends affecting the Internet business?
The equity markets certainly wont improve for 12 months. Stabilising and showing a small amount of growth, perhaps, but really improving, certainly we've got another year of this.

How does this relate to the Internet business? - Well, on the one hand, nothing new will appear for the next 12 months, but this is a great opportunity for consolidation. It's a great opportunity for the Internet companies that are surviving to prove that they are viable and profitable. And to establish themselves for when the market does improve.

3. Will you be making any investments in the current market?
We'll certainly be buying if it's appropriate and we'll certainly be holding, but I very much doubt if we'll be selling at these levels. Our acquisition strategy has always been that if we can take a business that is struggling that can give us a profitable business immediately, then we'll take it on. To take a company's gross profit and make it our net profit is our objective. We do that by stripping out costs associated with the business. We don't need staff or infrastructure; we don't need their overheads. We really want to buy revenue and put it onto our existing infrastructure, to make their gross profit our net profit.

4. What would you say are the key revenue drivers?
We make money in 3 key areas from the provision of communications services: Internet access, branded through at least 180 different brands across Europe, we provide branded mobile services, and provide branded fixed line telecommunications services. The Internet business has continued to grow very rapidly with us over the past few years, but is becoming a smaller and smaller part of our overall business probably counting for about 25% of our total business now. Two thirds is made of telecommunications - provision of branded mobile and branded fixed line services. The Balance is made up of content, commerce and advertising. All of which will be strategically important but not yet. There is no money to be made in online advertising, ecommerce or content provision if you are in a business such as ourselves. If you happen to own the content then of course there is money to be made from it but if you're an ISP, or you run ISPs or portals, you will make money out of communication services but not out of provision of content.

5. As an investor, what was your first Investment?
There were many investments along the way, but the most important was when we invested in Affinity to establish the business, which was back in June 1995.

6. What made you want to be an investor?
Being one's own boss I guess. We weren't just investors, we actually started the company from scratch and ran it ourselves. Our driving force was being our own boss and being able to run the business the way we saw fit.

7. What is the Worst thing about being an investor?
Being your own boss!!

8. What sort of companies do you like to invest in?
We invest in organisations that we think are currently undervalued but do have short-term strong potential. We really don't have an appetite for long-term strategies at this stage.

9. What has been your biggest success?
Our biggest success is Affinity

10. What has been your biggest failure?
To fully capitalise on the high share price that we encountered some 18 months ago.

11. What makes a good entrepreneur?
That is not an easy question. An Entrepreneur should have good vision, strategy, and ideas. He needs to be a risk taker, but he also needs to be profitable. To find a combination of all these features is unusual. I also believe an entrepreneur is someone who is willing to risk everything. And I think that is an interesting aspect of an entrepreneur. Because you do hear of entrepreneurs who build successful businesses, invest 1 or 2 million, but of course if they happen to have that as a very small part of their portfolio, does that make them an entrepreneur? If they only have £100,000 and they invest £100,000 that's an entrepreneur - someone that is prepared to risk everything.

12. What really sells a company to you?
The people. Obviously the product, the vision, the strategy has to be there. The profitability has to be there or has to be latent, but at the end of the day it has to be the people. Have they got the drive, have they got the ability to be able to deliver?

13. What would you do with your last £10,000?
I suppose I should be responsible and think of my children's education or something, but I'd probably take the family on holiday.

14. What do you feel was your lucky break?
I think my lucky break was Coming back to the UK. I lived in Asia for about 20 years. My contract came to an end and I came back to the UK and I was faced with changing completely the profession I was in. I didn't consider it to be a lucky break at the time, but I believe it was, and that's why I am where I am today.

15. What's your motivation to work?
I think you're born with motivation to work. I think everybody has different motivations, things that make people happy. For me it's being successful in business, and that's my motivation.

16. Who has been your biggest influence?
There have been a lot. People that I've worked for in the past, everyone that's been my business managers in the past, has contributed something to the way I look at things and the way that I behave today. I don't think there's any one single influence on my life.

17. What else would you like to do if you weren't involved with Affinity Internet?
I would like to take up parachuting, bungee jumping, any kind of extreme sports. I'm not built for it, but I'd love to be able to do it.

18. What's the most interesting part of your job?
The people. Meeting new people and the people that work around me.