Perth franchise group Quick Colour Print has gone into liquidation, adding to a string of Western Australian business collapses this month, including two substantial construction contractors and a mining contractor.
Quick Colour Print, which was placed into liquidation on Monday, had eight franchise outlets when the business changed hands last year.
Under new owner Tim Burke, six of the franchise operations closed down, with some of the franchisees choosing to walk away from the business.
The East Perth and Geraldton franchises were the only stores still trading when the business was placed in the hands of Daniel Brederkamp and Bryan Hughes of Pitcher Partners.
Quick Colour Print had been trading since 1990 and was ranked number 66 on the BNiQ list of WA franchises.
Its collapse followed construction and maintenance contractor Robinson Build-Tech going into liquidation last week.
The closure of the O’Connor-based business was understood to have resulted in the loss of about 75 jobs.
The family-owned business had been a registered builder in WA since 1958.
Recent contracts included a two-storey teaching block at West Leederville Primary School and a new sports hall at Mindarie Senior College, costing $3.8 million and $4.2 million respectively.
Chris Williamson and David Hurt of WA Insolvency Solutions were appointed liquidators on 11 March.
Another construction company in financial difficulty was Riverline Enterprises, trading as Matera Construction.
It was placed into administration earlier this month, after a contractual dispute with Leighton Contractors over work at the Elizabeth Quay project.
Former footballer Phillip Matera, who established Matera Construction, told Business News he had obtained private funding to ensure the company could proceed with a $4.7 million legal claim against Leighton.
Matera Construction claims direct losses of $3.5 million as a result of not being paid for work undertaken at the Elizabeth Quay site.
Leighton Contractors, in conjunction with its construction subsidiary Broad, was contracted by the state government to undertake $200 million of site work.
Mr Matera said the other arms of his group were continuing to trade.
These include Matera Electrical, which has been jointly owned by Mr Matera and business partner Phil Kerns since 2005, along with Matera Solar and Matera Supply.
Matera Supply was originally established as a joint venture with listed company ADG Global Supply, but Mr Matera said he had obtained new backers after ADG was placed into administration in January this year.
Adding to the string of business casualties this month was Waroona-based mining contractor Carna Group, which went into administration in early March.
The main contributor to its problems was a contractual dispute with the owners of the Griffin coal mine, Lanco Infratech.
Carna terminated arrangements with Griffin last December, following non-receipt of contracted payments.
Carna has subsequently lodged a civil claim against Lanco Infratech seeking payment for work performed and additional damages.
Carna is a family owned business established in 1992 by managing director Harry Carna.
It is continuing to work on other projects.
