Around 150 employees of national kitchen and laundry appliance retailer Kleenmaid Group face an uncertain future as administrators are appointed to the company after the global financial crisis hits sales and margins.
Around 150 employees of national kitchen and laundry appliance retailer Kleenmaid Group face an uncertain future as administrators are appointed to the company after the global financial crisis hits sales and margins.
The group has 20 retail outlets in Western Australia, Queensland, NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
Deloitte partners John Greig, Richard Hughes and David Lombe have been appointed to control the group and investigate the affairs of the business.
Mr Greig says Kleenmaid, which is headquartered at Maroochydore on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, had a turnover of $90 million in the year to June 2008 and has around 2,800 trade creditors who are owed about $12 million.
He says the global financial crisis has severely impacted sales and margins, and all attempts by the directors to obtain new financial support for the business have failed.
The administrators' first priority will be to assess the financial position of the group and explore available options.
But Mr Greig says not all the 150 employees will be able to be kept on.
"The voluntary administrators will be closely assessing how to preserve as many jobs as possible," he said.
Kleenmaid was founded in 1985 and is one of the few distributors to sell its appliance products direct to consumers.
The group wholly owns five outlets - the 15 others are franchises.
There is also a warehouse where stocks of finished appliances are kept pending sale, a spare parts business, and 30 franchisees providing in-home service throughout Australia.
Deloitte says it will be writing to all creditors to inform them of the first meeting of creditors and recommendations on the future of Kleenmaid will provided at the second creditors meeting.
The announcement is below:
The Directors of the Kleenmaid Group (Kleenmaid) have today appointed Deloitte partners, John Greig, Richard Hughes and David Lombe, as Voluntary Administrators to take control of the group and investigate the affairs of the business.
Mr John Greig said that the main reason for the appointment by the Directors was that the global financial crisis had severely impacted sales and margins, and all attempts by the Directors to obtain new financial support for the business have met with no success in the present economic circumstances.
The kitchen and laundry appliance group had a turnover of $90 million in the year to June 2008. Headquartered in Maroochydore, Queensland, the business has around 2,800 trade creditors who are owed approximately $12 million.
Mr Greig said that the first aim of the Voluntary Administrators will be to assess the financial position of the group and to explore the options available.
The Kleenmaid Group was founded in 1985 and is one of the few distributors to sell its appliance products direct to the public. Kleenmaid currently has 20 retail outlets located in QLD, NSW, VIC, SA and WA, of which 15 are franchised and five are wholly owned by the company. In addition, there is a warehouse facility in which stocks of finished appliances are kept pending sale, a spare parts business, as well as 30 franchisees providing in-home service throughout Australia.
Mr Greig stated that there were approximately 150 employees with the business but he expected that this level of staff would not be able to be maintained by the Administrators going forward. "The Voluntary Administrators will be closely assessing how to preserve as many jobs as possible," he said.
The process of voluntary administration is designed to quickly explore the options for the company to ensure that creditors get the best possible return. The Voluntary Administrators will be writing to all creditors shortly to provide notice of the date of the first meeting of creditors. The first creditors' meeting is normally held within eight business days of the appointment of a Voluntary Administrator.
The recommendations of the Voluntary Administrators with respect to the future of the group will be provided at the second creditors meeting. The meeting is typically held within a 25 business day convening period.
