All 16 staff at collapsed Sydney UV printer Graphics Plus Printing (GPP) are ‘out on the street’ after administrators failed to find a buyer.
Insolvency specialist Thomas Dawson of the Insol Group said Graphics Plus will close for good and an online auction conducted next month by Grays Online will sell off the machines and other equipment.
Despite many expressions of interest in buying Graphics Plus as a going concern, Dawson refused to make a deal and said potential buyers thought the asking price was too high. In a business for sale listing, GPP was described as a ‘Specialty Plastic Printing and Point-of-sale Business with a turnover of $3.7m this year.’
Dawson said all 16 staff, owed about $300,000 in entitlements, have been made redundant but will get their superannuation from the asset sale and the rest from a Fair Entitlement Guarantee (FIG) claim.
“It’s a kick in the guts and very upsetting for a lot of us,” said one sacked worker. “Some of the guys had been there 20 years. We went in on Monday to sign some paperwork and now we’re out on the street, frantically looking for a job. We’re told that our pay and entitlements will come through FIG and that we’ll get it all eventually but that doesn’t feed my kids for the next few months. It could have been handled better.”
Former GPP managing director Phil Delaney has been unavailable for comment.
Graphics Plus Printers pioneered lithographic printing onto plastic over 30 years ago and produced a wide range of retail product packaging for retail, home entertainment and specialist markets, including CD, DVD & Blu-ray sleeves.