Incorporated in January 2020, the Gore-based construction business, which specialised in temperature-controlled buildings for the agriculture, horticulture and viticulture sectors, was placed in liquidation in November last year by special resolution of the company’s shareholders.
Total preferential creditors totalled $103,856 — which included staff wages and holiday pay of $48,856 and Inland Revenue GST and PAYE of $55,000 — secured creditors of $1.58m, and unsecured creditors — comprising 26 claims — of nearly $2.4m.
Insolvency Matters insolvency practitioner Brenton Hunt said in his report the company was insolvent and no distribution was made to any class of creditors.
The reasons cited for liquidation included competitive weakness, inadequate cash flow or high cash use, poor economic conditions and poor strategic management of the business.
The company’s directors were listed as Nathan Mark Stewart and Ingrid Rose Stewart, of Gore.
The latest monthly report from credit bureau Centrix showed company liquidations across the country were up 19% year-on-year and business credit defaults were up 5% across all sectors, with the transport and construction industries particularly badly hit, sitting at 25% and 22% year-on-year respectively.
Centrix managing director Keith McLaughlin said the construction sector represented one in four companies placed into liquidation.
In the past 12 months, 546 construction companies were liquidated. Non-residential building construction firms were experiencing the highest annual increase in liquidations, up 78% from last year.
Insolvency Management Ltd director Iain Nellies was appointed liquidator of Queenstown residential building business Excel Building last month, following an application for liquidation submitted by Daeweld Engineering earlier in the year.
A liquidator was also appointed to Dunedin business Swell Roofing and Cladding last month.
Meanwhile, the first liquidators report for Filcom Ltd, a Dunedin-based telecommunications services firm, owned by Ruel Domiquel Rodriguez, showed the company owed the Inland Revenue Department $116,000. Other creditors were yet to be ascertained. The business was placed in liquidation last month by special resolution of shareholders.
The company was incorporated in 2016 and provided telecommunication services and subcontracting with Chorus.
The report said there were not many jobs here and staff members got their visas and started their own companies. The director had moved to Perth, Western Australia.
The company incurred debt with the tax department and the director knew the company did not have enough work to trade out the debt. After seeking professional advice, the shareholder resolved to place the company into liquidation.
A liquidator’s final report into Queenstown-based car sales and rental business Crawford Rentals, which was put into liquidation by special resolution of shareholders in October last year, showed no money was recouped by creditors who were owed $71,387.83 (preferential) and $113,272.49 (unsecured). The reasons for the liquidation were given as poor economic conditions and the retirement of the owner.
Liquidators have now also been appointed to Carlin Hotel Property Management Ltd and Carlin Hotel Ltd. Following the death last December of developer Kevin Carlin — who opened the lavish seven-level hotel, built for about $30m in early 2022 — both the management company and a company owning six of the nine units were placed in receivership, with combined debt of about $45m.
