Timaru plumbing company debt climbs as liquidators release first six-monthly report

Wednesday, 25 February 2026

Nexus-branded containers on a section in Elizabeth St, Timaru, in March.

A Timaru plumbing firm that failed to pay its debts as they fell due owes creditors more than $700,000.

The first six-monthly liquidators report, covering the period July 24 until January 23, was released on Friday and showed unsecured creditors had filed claims worth more than $622k.

That figure was well up on the $360,000 worth of unsecured claims listed in the first report, which was released in August.

Claims from two secured creditors, worth a combined $77,490, had also been filed along with two from preferential creditors for a combined $14,750.

Nexus branded containers are removed from a section on the corner of Evans and Eversley Sts in April.

Nexus Services Ltd was put into liquidation in the High Court at Christchurch on July 24, following an application from Auckland-based financial services provider Buffer Premium Ltd.

Steven Khov and Kieran Jones, of Khov Jones, were appointed joint and several liquidators of Nexus Services Ltd and released their first six-monthly report on Friday.

They said they had not yet realised any of the company’s assets or made a distribution to any class of creditor.

“The liquidators are in the process of reviewing the company’s books and records to understand how the company’s assets were dealt with prior to liquidation.”

Companies across the country were listed in the schedule of creditors alongside a number of Timaru businesses including Dan Cosgrove Ltd, Glass Specialists Ltd, Heartland Containers Ltd and Heartland Technology Ltd.

The Timaru District Council was also owed money.

The Timaru District Council is listed as one of the creditors of Nexus Services Ltd.

The liquidators said it was not “practicable to estimate the date of completion of the liquidation or if there will be any distribution at this stage”.

“The liquidators continue to realise and/or disclaim the assets of the company and investigate the records and books of the company.”

A month before the liquidators were called in on Nexus Services Ltd, linked company GFY Ltd was put into liquidation in June at the request of Inland Revenue.

The company owed the tax department more than $900,000.

Murray Bartlett was listed as the sole director and shareholder of both companies.

Nexus Services, which was registered in September 2017, changed hands in 2025.

Company records, updated on March 14, showed original director and shareholder Callum Bartlett and parent company Some Amigos Ltd (solely owned by Callum Bartlett) were removed, with Murray Bartlett acquiring a 100% shareholding.

Steve Parker advertised his woes with former tenant Nexus Services by installing signage on his Evans St property last year.

Murray Bartlett had previously been a director of the company for just over two weeks from August 1-16, 2022.

In March, landlord Steve Parker confirmed the company had been asked to vacate its former premises at 197 Evans St as it had not met rent obligations.

At the time, Parker said he had “hounded and hounded him [Callum Bartlett] and chased him all around town and there was a bit of a push-around as well”.

“I got tired of chasing him for rent, so I asked him to vacate the place,” Parker said, adding he was owed about $6500 at the time.

Parker’s claims were put to Bartlett at the time but he did not respond.

The same month, the Timaru District Council confirmed it was investigating a complaint about large signage the company had installed on a corner on the side of State Highway 1 through Timaru.