Stateweb sinks for second time

Less than a year after it went broke the first time, the revamped South Australian heat-set web printer, Stateweb, has gone down again.

The controversial company was founded in April 2006 by Jon Williams and specialised in the high-end commercial printing of magazines (ACP, News Corp) and brochures. It went into receivership in January last year, with the loss of 17 jobs, only to be purchased by Adelaide entrepreneur and former pharmacist, Luke Koumi, a shareholder in the original company.

Koumi’s plan for the business included looking outside of South Australia for work.

“There are a lot more trucks bringing stuff into Adelaide than taking it out,” he told media at the time of purchase. “Back-loading printing jobs around the country will provide a cost break that will enable Stateweb to compete with big printers in the other capitals, especially when the quality is equal to any web printer in Australia.”

Not even national expansion could save the company from drowning as the receivers were called in once more on 31 December 2008. Adelaide firm, Sheahan Lock Partners are handling the receivership, and have already spoken to interested parties in both Australia and overseas.

Nick Fryer, a partner at Sheahan Lock said that Stateweb suffered from a bad reputation and customers were hesitant to do business with a company associated with failure.

“From looking at the books, Stateweb never quite got out from underneath the industry’s perception of the company given its previous failure,” he said. “Stateweb’s customers were slow, nervous or otherwise reluctant to come back to the company.”

Fryer added that Stateweb also had difficulties finding a paper supplier who would deal with the company, which only created more delays.

“They were never in a position to fire up the press at full speed,” he said.  “The company had been hemorrhaging money since the last receivership and just couldn’t turn things around quick enough.”

The Torrensville-based business is not trading at the moment. Fryer estimated that 20 jobs had been lost with its closure.

Sources close to the company say that it is yet another blow for the original staff from Williams’ time, some of whom were rehired when Koumi took over the business. One contractor claims that he is owed $55,000 in wages.

“The Koumis were meant to fix everything, and look what has happened,” the angry contractor said.