A group of businesses that did work for Whirlwind Print in NSW after it bought Sydney print business Lindsay Yates are readying for a fight to be paid and are determined to never give up.
The full amount of what’s owed to a variety of creditors by both Whirlwind Print Pty Ltd and Whirlwind Print NSW Pty Ltd, including large paper suppliers with one understood to be owed a seven figure sum, is not clear.
But one creditor, Wayne Rubin owner of Twin Loop Binding, says he is actively pursuing the matter and is deeply concerned about what the apparent sale of printing equipment means for his unpaid bills.
After weeks of speculation details emerged last week that trade printing giant CMYKhub had bought some of the equipment of Whirlwind Print, taken over the lease of the Knoxfield factory and bought the company’s customer list.
http://www.proprint.com.au/News/393033,whirlwind8217s-demise-a-sign-of-the-times.aspx
Rubin’s Sydney-based bindery business is owed more than $14,000 with interest and while he understands this is modest compared to some of his colleagues whose debts are more sizable, he hopes the Personal Properties Security Register (PPSR) preferential credit approval he sought in October 2018 when Whirlwind took over Lindsay Yates will bolster his case.
But while Rubin is hopeful and is also backed up by a Local Court of NSW small claims approval dated May 1, 2019, he has his doubts.
Giving him the most concern is the PPSR was not made with Whirlwind Print Pty Ltd, but with Whirlwind Print NSW Pty Ltd, which is a separate business with a separate ABN. Industry sources have indicated this NSW entity, which ceased trading in January 2019, will be put into voluntary administration in the coming weeks.
The concern is at the time Rubin arranged the PPSR through the federal government’s Australian Financial Security Authority he thought it was being made with Whirlwind Print Pty Ltd. The forms had the same director names and contact details listed, but the reality was a different story and after he made inquiries when his bills were not paid, he learnt his PPSR arrangement was with the NSW company.
He says the debts began to rack up from November 2018 with the final invoice, still unpaid, sent to Whirlwind Print on January 11, 2019, after Rubin had his staff work over the holiday period, at extra cost to him, to have an urgent job completed.
He also has serious questions to ask about why valuable printing equipment from the Sydney factory was shifted to Melbourne around about the same time.
“They continued trading with the same phone number, different address, same vehicles, same staff but they were acting more as a print broker. We were no longer dealing with NSW but if you needed to phone them the number went to the new office in Sydney,” Rubin told ProPrint.
“I have questions as to why or how assets can be moved from Whirlwind Print NSW to Whirlwind Print in Victoria when there is still unpaid debts by Whirlwind Print NSW. I am waiting for confirmation from the Whirlwind Print directors if these assets are being moved to CMYKhub,” adding that he had been in touch with both Andrew Cester of Whirlwind and CMYKhub but had not as yet received any communication.
http://www.proprint.com.au/News/392555,whirlwind-to-create-nsw-digital-hub.aspx
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