Page 67 - Print21 July-Aug 2018 Magazine

the OVERflow Picton Press administrator considers offers
Administrators are sifting through a number of offers for leading WA printer Picton Press which went into voluntary administration in May with debts of over $9 million.
An ad placed in the
Australian Financial Review in June said: the administrators are
seeking urgent expressions of interest for the recapitalisation and/or outright purchase of
the company’s business and/
or assets, either individually or collectively. Assets for sale include customer contracts, IP, plant, equipment and motor vehicles.
More than a dozen parties have expressed interest, some
of them are local, some national and some from abroad.
Jeremy Nipps from insolvency firm Cor Cordis said he’s working through the first round of indicative offers and liaising with “various interested parties,” including the existing owners who are “very keen” to hold onto the company and have proposed a business restructure.
Picton Press has remained open for business since calling in administrators after the Australian Taxation Office began court action to recover an outstanding tax bill of
$1.3 million.
An examination of the books by Cor Cordis then revealed the total debt figure of about $9 million, which includes $2 million in unsecured creditors and $7 million in secured creditor debt. About $700,000 is owed to trade creditors.
Former PIAA director and Picton GM Graham Jamieson at Picton Press in 2016.
“We’re running through
the process hoping to extract an outcome that will provide
a better return to creditors, whether it’s through a sale or a restructuring,” said Nipps.
Picton Press has grown from a three-man operation in 1988 to become one of Perth’s largest print companies, employing
about 30 people, including directors Dennis Hague and Gary Kennedy. General manager Graham Jamieson, formerly
a director on the board at the Printing Industries Association of Australia, resigned from the board in June.
Jamieson’s replacement
as the Western Australian representative on the PIAA board has been named as Anthony Pittaway, the manager of WA digital printer Discus on Demand.
“Printing Industries thanks Graham Jamieson for the outstanding contributions he has made over more than a decade,” said Walter Kuhn, president of the PIAA. “We are grateful for all Graham has contributed within the visual communication sector. Graham has been an essential member of our association and Printing Industries owes a great deal to his valuable leadership.” 21
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