Liquidators Ian Currie and Daniel Moore of BRI Ferrier were appointed on 9 March – the same day that fellow Brisbane flood victim ABC Printing collapsed owing $3.7 million.
Steve Parish Publishing owed $1.2 million to secured creditor National Australia Bank and $176,000 to 22 staff, who were preferred creditors.
There were also debts of $1.5 million to unsecured creditors, with the biggest debt to the Australian Taxation Office ($522,000).
The flow of high-quality colour printing to offshore printers had an upshot here, with local firms not at risk of major haircuts. Victoria-based McPherson’s Printing Group is owed $12,000, PMP Print is owed $2,500 and Brisbane-based Screen Offset Printing is owed $1,800.
Offshore printers felt the brunt of the business failure, with Singapore-based Craft Print International hit for $215,000, and Hong Kong companies Asia Pacific Offset and C&C Offset Printing hit for $97,000 and $20,000, respectively.
Liquidator Ian Currie told ProPrint he had offloaded all the company’s assets for a six-figure sum.
Steve Parish Publishing listed $2.2 million of assets when it entered liquidation – $1.4 million of stock, $589,000 of outstanding debts and $39,000 of machinery. However, only $561,000 of that was thought to be realisable.
Currie said the company had been hit hard by the floods, which had wiped out most of its stock and interrupted trading for “several months”. He also said the declining state of the printing industry and the poor economy had contributed to the company’s demise.
Steve Parish, the sole owner, will have a consulting role with those who bought the stock, according to Currie.
According to Steve Parish Publishing’s website, the company was founded in 1985 and published children’s books, travel guides, maps, calendars, posters and stationary. The website also said Parish was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2008 for services to publishing.
ProPrint was unable to reach owner Steve Parish.
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