Sydney laminating outfit TLC Print Finishing has been locked out of its facility, unable to pay its rent and struggling to find a buyer. Samantha Rogers, wife of TLC director David Rogers, says the business is a victim of the recent demise of Focus Press. She says she has been running the business herself for the past year, and was assured by former Focus owner David Fuller that the $175,000 owing to TLC would be paid. She says, “Then he went into liquidation and we lost it all.”
Note from the landlord on TLC’s front door
Rogers says the business has been up for sale for the past five months, but a single promising deal fell through in June. As money continued to run out, Rogers says she ceased trading earlier this month to stop mounting losses. “There was no point getting into more debt, it hurts everyone,” she says. Rogers says the kit is now being sold via used equipment dealers in an attempt to pay off creditors. Nearby finishing businesses are picking up jobs from TLC clients and its staff are out looking for work or being poached by rival firms, saying they have not yet received entitlements. Rogers says while staff wages are up to date, their entitlements are waiting on a sale of the business. “I have always tried to look after my employees and have got one of them a job since we closed down,” she says. Since the business is not in liquidation, staff are not able to make a Fair Entitlement Guarantee claim. Goodman Australia, landlords for the unit in Silverwater’s Slough Business Park where TLC is based, have taken possession of the factory and chained up the carpark after rent was not paid. Rogers says the rent is about two months overdue since talks with the potential buyer fell through, as she was negotiating getting them to take over the lease. Goodman’s website already has the property up for lease, with it due to be cleared out in the next few weeks. The lease holding company connected to TLC, Print Employment Pty Ltd, is in administration with documents lodged with ASIC in May, while the equipment – much of which is still inside – is owned by Mamers Investment Pty Ltd. David Rogers is also the director of Mamers, while other TLC shareholders include Samantha Rogers and her brother Darren Falla. This is the second time TLC has crashed and burned, with its previous incarnation liquidated in 2010 with debts of $1.2m, only to pop up again almost immediately at the same site with the same equipment owned by Mamers.
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