South Canterbury cafe owes creditors $19k, liquidator’s report reveals

Tuesday, 10 September 2024

Unsecured creditors left out of pocket by a South Canterbury company which operated a cafe in Temuka are unlikely to be paid.

Monarch Kitchen Cafe Ltd, owned by Jessica Marie Phimister and Daniel Sargent, was placed into liquidation on February 13.

According to the liquidator’s first sixth monthly report, which was filed to the companies office on Sunday, the company owes creditors $19,000.

In February, Sargent told The Timaru Herald several factors including Covid, staffing issues and the rising cost in food prices had forced the business into liquidation.

In his latest report, liquidator Brenton Hunt, of Insolvency Matters, estimated the liquidation should be completed in the next 12 months.

He said it was not likely unsecured creditors would receive a dividend upon the completion of the liquidation.

“The liquidator wishes to remind all creditors, shareholders and directors of the company and other entitled persons that they may apply to the court to review or fix the remuneration of the liquidator,’’ the report says.

The report says one preferential creditor, the Inland Revenue Department, had lodged a claim for $16,446.

In his first report, the liquidator said secured creditors, including Bidfood, Finance Now, Kaans Catering Supplies, Silver Chef Rentals and Trents Wholesale, were owed an estimated $5000.

However, the second report lists just one secured creditor as being owed $291.

In the liquidator’s first report, nine unsecured creditors were estimated to be owed $50,000. They were ACC, Contact, Eftpos Now, Employsure, Gallagher, Inland Revenue, Noone Plus, One NZ and Paymark.

The second report lists four unnamed unsecured creditors with claims totalling $4038.

The sale of plant and equipment from the cafe is estimated to be worth about $5000, the report says.

The cafe, on Temuka’s main street, offered dine in and takeaway options, and began trading in April 2021.

Sargent and Phimister are the joint owners of The Jolly Potter which is located along the street from the former Monarch Kitchen premises.

In May, finance and credit expert Keith McLaughlin told The Timaru Herald it would be a difficult winter for many in business in South Canterbury, as interest rates continued to rise, consumer spending weakened, and the number of jobs being advertised remained well down.

Last week, liquidators released the second report to creditors and shareholders of a Timaru-based building company put into liquidation in February, after failing to pay money owed to a company which owns three Mitre 10 Mega stores.

In the report, liquidators Iain Shephard and Jessica Kellow, of BDO Wellington, confirmed they had spoken to New Zealand Carpentry director Joshua Drummond.

In July, Waimate plant propagation, engineering and freight service business Headford Propagators Ltd was placed into liquidation.

Two months earlier a recruitment company whose owner was celebrated as an emerging leader by South Canterbury’s business community was put into liquidation owing more than $1.5 million to Inland Revenue.

Trinity Employment Services Ltd, which operated as an employment placement business since 2021, had offices in Timaru and Rolleston.