Warren Everton, financial controller for CPI, which has supplied Pettaras since 2004, told ProPrint the company would now only supply Pettaras “on the basis of the receiver giving us a purchase order”.

Everton wouldn’t reveal the exact figure owed to CPI, but said: “We’ll have to work with the receiver manager to recover what we can.

“But given the state of play, even though we haven’t yet seen the position of the company’s assets, I suspect that it’s doubtful we’ll recover any of that.”

Everton said that CPI didn’t see any warning signs that Pettaras was in trouble, though acknowledged that the company’s rapid expansion over the last few years may have been a factor.

“I believe that he [Steve Pettaras] made a fairly large investment in a new site and new machinery, so that may have been an issue. But he always had a good track record with us, so it is a surprise.”

It has been revealed that Westpac was the major creditor that appointed chartered accountants PPB this week to place Pettaras in receivership.

However, it is believed that the printer’s 80 employees are listed as the ‘preferred creditors’, meaning they will be the first to have their debts realised.

According to a report issued to creditors, Pettaras owes up to $2,091,000 to creditors and $869,000 to its employees. Meanwhile, associated entity Atlas Specialised Packaging is said to owe $562,000 to creditors and $231,000 to its employees.

Padstow-based Pettaras Press entered voluntary administration last Friday. The company operates a mix of sheetfed and digital equipment, including a 10-colour Komori Lithrone, which it purchased at last year’s PacPrint, and an HP Indigo 5000.

The award-winning business, which took three golds at last year’s NSW Excellence Awards, recently moved to a new purpose-built, 11,500sqm facility.

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