Chips, spoke yesterday about his pleasure at the outcome of the company's recent public share offering, despite many setbacks.

Although the offering of up to 340,000 common shares was not a sell-out -- in fact, about 65,000 shares in total were sold -- Mr. Gresham said the original intention of the offering was accomplished.

He succeeded in broadening the company's shareholder base. Chips now has about 90 shareholders.

Shares were priced at $6.10 each, bringing total proceeds to about $400,000.

"We did not reach the total that would have been nice, but we achieved our objective,'' said Mr. Gresham.

The aim was never to raise capital, but simply to increase the number of shareholders, he said.

"There were many obstacles in our way. A simple objective was made complicated by certain people.'' There were individuals who wished to prevent Chips going public, and tried to buy the business, said Mr. Gresham.

"But I did not give in to any offer made to us. A merger of Chips Ltd. would have resulted in redundancies, and I felt responsible for my staff,'' he said.

The offering closed February 18.