Whirlwind had $4.9m shortfall at demise

When Whirlwind Print raised the white flag and entered liquidation it had a combined asset value of $4.25m but after secured creditors and other circular security interests were paid the shortfall slipped to $4.9m in the negative, documents show.

These details are contained in summary of affairs statements completed by Whirlwind Print and Whirlwind Print NSW directors for liquidators Grant Thornton on May 28, 2019 – the day the companies were placed into liquidation.

Grant Thornton liquidator Ahmed Bise says the “ball park” asset and liability figures, which have been supplied to ASIC, will now be fully investigated and may change during that process change.

“They are a statement that’s been prepared by the company directors and it is their estimate as at that date but the actual outcome is something that will be determined by the liquidators in due course,” Bise told ProPrint.

“Those numbers may end up being accurate but the reality is generally speaking the actual position will be somewhat different to that.”

According to the documents when Whirlwind Print Pty Ltd called the liquidators it had a total estimated realisable value of $4.19m but after secured creditor payments of $1.95m and payments to debenture or circular security interests of $2.41m, it was $247,100 in the red.

Then once the $3.46m owed to unsecured creditors of Whirlwind Print Pty Ltd were considered, the total owed by this company alone sits at $3.46m.

The NSW entity, Whirlwind Print NSW Pty Ltd, came out with a shortfall of over a million dollars.

On liquidation it had a total estimated realisable value of $136,084, the documents show. Payments to secured creditors were $85,299 with another $125,154 owed to debenture or circular security interest over assets. This took this business to $75,000 in the red so with the unsecured creditors owed $1.36m the total estimated deficiency sits at $1.44m.

In the week before Whirlwind officially entered liquidation it sold its printing equipment, customer list and existing lease of its Knoxfield site to rival trade printer CMYKhub with the bulk of that money used to pay the ANZ bank.

On the day of liquidation all staff were made redundant and referred to the federal government Feg scheme for their entitlements.

Bise has told ProPrint that whether Whirlwind Print was trading while insolvent will be a key part of his investigation. Read more here

Creditor lists show the scale of the debts with Whirlwind Print Pty Ltd owing Direct Paper $1.24m, Ball and Doggett $654,396, B J Ball Papers $80,500, Spicers Australia $22,894, The Printing Hub $22,363 and Toll Transport $23,757.

Whirlwind Print NSW Pty Ltd has its own list of unsecured creditors including Direct Paper Supplies owed $99,376, Neopost Australia $55,730 and Goldcraft Embossing $22,082. It also owes Whirlwind Print Pty Ltd $112,804.

http://www.proprint.com.au/News/393051,whirlwind-staff-to-seek-entitlements-through-scheme.aspx

Bise and fellow Grant Thornton liquidator Andrew Hewitt are now continuing to investigate the business with the date of the first creditors still to be set.

 

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