Melbourne-based trade printer Q Print Finishing Services has collapsed into voluntary administration and creditors will meet tomorrow to consider going ahead with a public auction of the equipment next week.
“The business was struggling and we’d been looking to sell for the past 18 months,” said owner/director Tim Straford. “We were negotiating a deal but it fell through and we decided late last month we had no option but to go into administration.”
The company’s assets were seized on 23 October, the same day that Richard Rohrt of Hamilton Murphy was appointed administrator. “It’s still early days but three employees have been terminated and the first meeting of creditors will take place at the offices of Hamilton Murphy, 237 Swan St, Richmond, at 10am on 5 November,” said a spokesperson for Hamilton Murphy.
Straford believes the 20-year-old print finishing company has been the victim of consolidation and contraction across the sector.
“It has been a very frustrating time, as you can imagine. The industry really needs to sit down and decide where we’re going because two or three big companies have market dominance and have been dictating to the market for too long. They can set their own prices, which means that margins have been dropping.
“At our peak, we had 150 printers coming to us with work but over the past three or four years we’ve lost several major accounts. Many of them have consolidated or taken the work in-house and others have just closed their doors and gone belly up. The whole industry is struggling. We have tried to diversify the business but that takes time and you can only do so much.”
Straford said tomorrow’s meeting of '20 or 30' creditors would consider trying to sell the business as a going concern or give the go-ahead to a public auction of machinery scheduled for Tuesday next week.
In the meantime, he’s looking for a job. “I’m 50 and I’m starting again. Let me know if you hear of any opportunities.”