The ongoing battle between Picton Press and the ATO is continuing with a federal court hearing adjourned until May 1, marking 12 months since the company ran aground with $9m debts, including $1.3m in unpaid tax.
Picton, which employs 30 staff and has been a major player in the WA commercial print market for many years, continued to trade through the troubles after a Deed of Company Arrangement (DOCA) was approved by creditors last November.
Not satisfied with the terms laid out in the DOCA which saw the ATO recoup just one to two cents in the dollar of the $1.3m it was owed it launched wind up action against Picton’s directors Gary Kennedy and Dennis Hague.
The other provision in the DOCA meant unsecured trade creditors owed less than $10,000 would receive full repayment, while those above this amount, including the ATO and a key paper supplier, received one to two cents in the dollar.
CorCordis administrator Jeremy Nipps was the architect of the DOCA and told ProPrint that all parties agreed to the second adjournment and he is hopeful of resolving the matter before it returns to the Federal Court.
“I’m hopeful there will be a resolution before then so hopefully we can have an outcome or a position agreed with to have the application dismissed,” Nipps said.
“Now it is a matter of exchanging correspondence to try and get to an agreeable position.”
Nipps said as far as he is aware business on a day to day level at Picton is travelling well.
“Everything seems fine there but obviously the directors are running the shop,” he said.
http://www.proprint.com.au/News/392798,ato-agrees-to-adjournment-in-picton-case.aspx
He also confirmed he still has $205,000 sitting in an unsecured creditors account but has been unable to transfer it the trust for payment to creditors due to the ongoing legal action.
“My part is really just around the DOCA arrangement and I’m ready to execute and move the funds into a creditors trust but I can’t because of the court hearing so I’m just waiting for that to go through but apart from that what I understand is that everything seems OK from the directors perspective.”
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