Published on the 26/02/2016 | Written by Newsdesk
In a statement issued by receivers Ferrier Hodgson, it was today announced that the remaining Dick Smith and Move stores (excluding airport locations) in Australia and New Zealand will close…
The move comes after the Dick Smith Group was placed in receivership on 5 January. Since then its CEO, Nick Abboud, resigned and was replaced by interim CEO Don Grover who was to work with the recievers and managers to find a suitable buyer for the embattled business.
Today it was announced that no buyer had been found and Dick Smiths remaining stores will close over the coming two months. Receiver James Stewart said, “While we received a significant number of expressions of interest from local and overseas parties, unfortunately the sale process has not resulted in any acceptable offers for the group as a whole or for Australia or New Zealand as standalone businesses.The offers were either significantly below liquidation values or highly conditional or both.”
There are 301 stores remaining in Australia and 62 stores in New Zealand. Approximately 2,460 staff will be affected by the store closures in Australia and approximately 430 in New Zealand.
In the statement, Stewart said it was a very disappointing outcome for the employees of Dick Smith who have given loyal service to the business.
“We would particularly like to thank the Dick Smith employees for their support and patience during the receivership process”.
The statement went on to say that all Australian employee entitlements will rank as priority unsecured claims ahead of the secured creditors and are expected to be paid in full. Entitlements of New Zealand employees who are made redundant are also preferential claims ranking ahead of the secured creditors, and are expected to be paid in full up to a maximum statutory limit of NZD$22,160 under New Zealand law.
Employees across head office and stores have been briefed today, and will be provided with appropriate outplacement support by the receivers.
