Stephen Durham was a director of Spectrum Printing Australia when the St Leonards-based business was liquidated in April owing about $115,000.
Durham is also a director of Colour Central Group, a print company that was registered in 2007, but which is now trading as Spectrum Printing, according to ASIC records.
ProPrint has also obtained a Colour Central Group quote. It is written on the Spectrum Printing letterhead and features a note that says: “Colour Central Group Pty Ltd trading as Spectrum Printing”. It also lists a website that has the same domain name as the liquidated company; the website says that Spectrum Printing was founded in 1996.
Durham declined to comment when asked why Colour Central Group was trading under a different name. However, he did tell ProPrint: “It’s not a phoenix operation.”
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Spectrum Printing Australia’s liquidator, Mark Cooper from Frasers Advisory, did not respond to ProPrint‘s requests for comment.
Colour Central Group now operates out of the premises of The Printing Department, and also outsources some of its work to the Artarmon firm. The co-location was made official in June, according to ASIC.
The Printing Department’s owner, Jim Becker, told ProPrint that he agreed to the arrangement in October 2012 and would not renew the deal when it expired in December 2013.
Durham said the media attention on his commercial dealings had made it hard to earn a living and made it impossible to repay Spectrum Printing Australia’s creditors.
“That was my intention, however, due to the constant press out there and the misinterpretation, it meant that I’m unable to pay back the small number of creditors that Spectrum Printing Australia left behind.”
Durham also said it was unfair to blame Spectrum Printing Australia’s collapse on its directors. “The reason Spectrum Printing Australia failed is because the sales staff weren’t performing,” he said.
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