In July, A.G. Ware Ltd, which traded as Southern City Taxis, was liquidated in the High Court at Dunedin on application of Inland Revenue for overdue GST and employer taxes as well as associated penalties and interest.
KPMG’s Elizabeth Keene and Vivian Fatupaito were appointed joint liquidators.
Yesterday, they released the company’s first liquidation report, which said several attempts to sell the business after it entered liquidation were unsuccessful.
Based on information received so far, claims from preferential unsecured and non-preferential unsecured creditors totalled just over $550,000, the report said.
Secured creditors’ claim amounts were yet to be quantified.
The company’s assets were estimated to be about $58,750 at the date of the liquidation, but given the early stage of the process, there was ‘‘material uncertainty’’ in relation to the value of some of the assets, the report said.
The report said the company received $184,110 from the Covid-19 wage subsidy.
An analysis of the company’s financial position the day after the liquidation started determined it would not be able to continue to trade unless money could be found to cover the costs of trading.
Following that, the shareholders, Anthony and Janet Ware and Edwin Nicolson, ‘‘obtained’’ $20,000 from a family member to meet the ongoing trading costs, the report said.
The liquidators believed the best outcome for creditors would be to sell the business as a going concern and they had received consent from secured creditors to do so.
According to the report, secured creditors are listed as ANZ Bank, Technology Holdings Ltd, Taxi Transport Consortium Ltd, Finance Now Ltd and NZ Taxi Communications Ltd.
Following a valuation of the business, several confidential agreements were entered into with parties interested in buying the business.
However, all potential sales of the company fell through or the offers were uneconomical, the liquidators report said.
After that, the liquidators believed they had no alternative but to shut down the company on August 16.
The company’s employees were all laid off, locks were changed to the premises and an auctioneer was instructed to secure the company’s vehicles subject to security interests in preparation for sale.
The shift to Alert Level 4 across the country had delayed the removal of the company’s assets from its premises.
At this stage, it was not possible to provide an estimated date for completion of the liquidation, the report said.
The next report is due in six months.
