The Vancouver Sun from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 36

D4 TlIKV.WC.OL'Vl.kSL'X. WTDM SDAY. SIPTIMWU 15.2001 BUSINESS Intrawest now geared for growth: CEO te-: Mm1 lion US sale of an 80 per cent stake in its resort commercial properties, expected to be finalized soon. Intrawest will retain a 20 per cent interest and continue to manage retail and commercial space on the properties as it moves to becoming more of a management company than a capital-driven firm. It's also part of Intrawest's strategy of offloading much of the financial risk of its developments, which include top ski resorts such as Whistler-Black-comb, to a growing portfolio of more than 20 golf courses and resorts.

Global partnerships are helping reduce the risk. Last year, Intrawest set up Leisura Developments to allow joint venture partners to invest with it in real-estate opportunities, so that the company isn't carrying the land on its balance sheet in as significant a way. Next, Houssian wants to prove to investors that the company is entering a significant growth stage that should warrant a boost in its share price, which has yet to return to its pre-911 level above the $30 mark. Shares in Intrawest gained 98 cents on Tuesday a near five-per-cent increase to $21.75 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Houssian and his executive team want to go on a tour to meet investors to prove that the business is ready for growth.

Canadian Press LEISURE I Resort company increases profit and cuts debt i Resort operator Intrawest Corp. says it has reached its goal of cleaning up its balance sheet and is positioned for growth and hopefully a boost in shareholder value, the company's chairman said on Tuesday. "Our singular objective here is to drive share value. That's what we're coming to work every day to do," said Joe Houssian, who is also president and CEO of the global operator and developer of village-centred resorts based around skiing and golf. Houssian's comments came as the Vancouver company posted a profit increase to $60 million US for its latest fiscal year, which ended June 30.

That's up from $34.2 million in the previ-: ous year. Revenue for the year I increased to $1.54 billion from $1.1 billion US as resort revenue i alone jumped to $541 million from $500 million US. i Most importantly for Houss-! ian, the company reduced its net debt, as of June 30, to $849 mil-; lion, from $1.13 billion a year earlier. That was a key goal for Intrawest this year, which sought to strengthen its balance sheet and improve its liquidity. Further strengthening its financial status was a $160-mil- MARK VAN MANENVANCOUVER SUN Shane Neville (right) at the Backstage with N-Gage event.

The Vancouver-based producer has produced two new games. Vancouver games maestro to launch two new titles TECHNOLOGY I Sims: Bustin' Out producer's dream project is close to fruition BY MARKE ANDREWS VANCOUVER SUN Ski resort operator gets a lift Intrawest Q4 2004 profit of $2.6 million reverses dramatically a year-earlier loss of $14.5 million US. Intrawest quarterly profit, 2004: Full-year numbers 2004 2003 Profit: $60 million US $34.2 million US Revenues: $1.54 billion US $1.1 billion US Resort revenue: $541 million US $500 million US Real estate revenue: $878.2 million US $512.7 million US the RIFTS adventure books, written by Kevin Siembieda. Once he entered the videogame business, Neville envisioned a game based on the books. When he joined Nokia's fledgling Richmond studio 18 months ago and saw RIFTS as one of the company's options, he met Siembieda and began collaborating with the author on the game.

"Conceptually, I've been working on the game for about a year," says Neville, whose official title is producer, Nokia games publishing, Americas. "We've been developing it for the last eight to 10 months." The "we" in the equation is the Vancouver studio of Backbone Entertainment, a California company with three studios. Backbone Canada executive director Trent Ward is the game's creative director, Neville the producer, and the two work with a development team of 14-16 people at Backbone's Kitsilano office. Unlike games built for larger consoles like Sony Playsta mond studio had eight employees. Now it has more than 100, with plans to produce at least 30 per cent of N-Gage games in the coming years.

The Lower Mainland, where Nokia and Backbone Entertainment compete with companies like Electronic Arts and Radical Entertainment, is a hotbed for gamers and game producers. is a great choice for the high-tech sector," says Neville. "Video games have been a key part of Vancouver for 15 years. And the people who make the action games are out there doing things. We surf, we snowboard, we ride mountain bikes, we skateboard." Neville, who worked for Electronic Arts for half a decade before coming to Nokia, credits his competitor with giving him and others in the industry a solid groundwork in the industry.

"They have trained a lot of people here. They have very high standards, and they demand quality." tion or Microsoft X-Box which require sophisticated graphics and can cost as much as $30 million to make games made for the hand-held N-Gage usually cost $600,000 to $1.5 million. "RIFTS has one of the bigger budgets," says Neville. The game has some nice ironic touches. Among the geographical territories is a North American district called the Coalition State.

Within the Coalition State, however, is a rebellious black-market town, which is located in our own independence-minded province of Quebec. Next crucial step for the game comes in December, when the testers have a go at it. The testers will tell a producer what works and what doesn't. "They're really good at providing feedback," says Neville. "Sometimes you have something that in your mind and on paper looks really cool, but it doesn't test well.

Sometimes you have to let it go." When Neville came to Nokia early last year, the Rich- At the age of 30, Shane Neville is a veteran video-game producer, having created such best-selling works as The Sims: Bustin' Out, Tony Hawk Pro Skater and Crash Nitro Kart. In the next year, the Vancouver-based producer will have two new games on the market, both made for the Nokia N-Gage game deck. Elder Scrolls Travels Shad-owkey debuts this fall, in time to cash in on the lucrative Christmas season. And the role-playing adventure game that Neville has conceptualized for more than a decade, RIFTS: Promise of Power, comes out next summer. Neville unveiled details of the game Tuesday at "Backstage with N-Gage," Nokia's two-day media event for the world's gaming press, and spoke to The Vancouver Sun following the presentation.

As a high school and university student, Neville loved tn HIGH: March 10 Cl I 1 25'16 I I I fa Sept. 14 I MvL 1 $21.67 riffle a CEO: Joe Houssian Ml Employees: 21,900 Market capitalization: $1 billion (Cdn) 10 Ql Q2 Q3 04 VANCOUVER SUN Hells Angels investor coy about his sweet tooth DAVID BAINES VANCOUVER SUN COLUMNIST more hospitable climate of Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman. While Moll could no longer serve as an officer or director of a VSE-listed issuer, there was nothing to stop him from serving as an officer or director of an OTCBB issuer. Green Fusion agreed to pay 30 million shares for House of Brussels, which meant that Siemens and his colleagues now controlled Green Fusion. The net result was that the chocolate company was now a publicly traded company.

At that point, Moll, who still owned two million shares, quit the company. As part of the acquisition deal, Green Fusion paid another 13.7 million shares to GFC Ventures, a private company that had signed the original letter of intent to acquire Brussels a year earlier and had helped manage the chocolate business in the interim. One of the shareholders of GFC Ventures was GI'AV Investments a private company owned by Zumpano and his wife. Of the 13.7 million shares paid to GFC Ventures, Zumpano's company received 2.7 million shares. kering of future licensing and franchising of House of Brussels retail stores throughout Canada." The agreement was signed by Grant Peterson, who was then chairman of the public company.

He was also a shareholder, along with Zumpano's company, in GFC Ventures. Contacted Tuesday, Peterson, who now serves as Brussels' president, refused to say whether he knew Zumpano was a member of the Hells Angels when he signed the agreement. "I don't want to talk about that. What he does in his own time is his business." Documents show that Zumpano's company continued to acquire shares. In April 2003, it purchased one million shares and warrants to buy an equal number of shares in a private transaction with the company.

A year later, it exercised those warrants. As of June this year, he reported that he owned a total of 2.6 million snares, or about eight per cent of Brussels' outstanding shares. At Tuesday's closing price of $2.05 US, those shares are now worth $5.2 million US. Zumpano, 41, is a member of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels. In 1996, he was charged with extortion, along with another East End chapter member, Lloyd Robinson, but the Crown later decided there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction and stayed the charges.

Zumpano and Jamie Holland, a member of the Nomads chapter of the Hells Angels, are the principals of G.J.P. Holdings which bought the old Spinning Wheel hotel and nightclub at 212 Carrall Street in February 2003 for $800,000. Holland had previously been convicted of illegally possessing a restricted weapon a loaded Combat Commander handgun that had its serial number altered. He was fined $8,000 and prohibited from possessing guns or ammunition for five years. Zumpano, it appears, was not just a passive player in the Brussels deal.

In November 2002, the chocolate company paid GPAV Investments another 2.5 million shares to broker the sale of several unprofitable Brussels retail outlets, and "to assist with the bro Peterson insisted that Zumpano does not play any role or exercise any influence in the company's affairs. Zumpano, for his part, was not at all eager to discuss the matter. "Why is this such a big concern for you?" he asked. Because you are a member of the Hells Angels, I replied. "Well, I keep my business to myself, you know what I mean? I don't go around asking you about your business." At that juncture, I was quite willing to concede his point.

House of Brussels, meanwhile, doesn't seem to be doing too well. During the year ended April 30, sales were $3.23 million Cdn ($2.5 million US), and the net loss was $5 million Cdn ($3.9 million US). During the first quarter ended July 31, sales were nearly $1.03 mil-lion Cdn ($800,000 US), an increase of 193 per cent over the same quarter last vear, but the net loss was $803,000 Cdn ($620,567 US), up 28 per cent from the same quarter last year. At this point, the Hedgehogs are clearly sweeter than the stock. JlHwmipng.amwesl.am certainly wasn't aware that Zumpano was involved in it.

So I decided to take a closer look. Disclosure documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission show that until 2002, House of Brussels was a private company controlled by Siemens Industries owned by Vancouver businessman Richard Siemens. In May of that year, it sold the business to a failed Internet company called Green Fusion Corp. Green Fusion was listed on the OTCBB, probably for good reason.

Its principal shareholder was Harry Moll, an erstwhile Howe Street promoter whose offerings brought the Vancouver Stock Exchange into such disrepute in the mid-1990s that then-Premier Glen Clark commissioned lawyer James Matkin to conduct an inquiry into regulation of the VSE. Matkin concluded that VSE offerings were dominated by "shams, swindles and market manipulations," a conclusion that prompted a massive clean-up campaign. Dozens of promoters were blackballed, including Moll, who took up residency in the My soft-spoken but steely-eyed colleague, Neal Hall one of the principal authors of The Vancouver Sun's feature on the Hells Angels last Saturday piqued my interest when he mentioned that Gino Zumpano, a member of the Hells Angels, is a shareholder in House of Brussels Chocolates. While I am quite familiar with Brussels particularly its signature product, the Hedgehog I was not aware that it is a publicly traded company. That's probably because its shares do not trade on a Canadian exchange, but rather are quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board in the United States.

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