The combined final administrator’s report for its three entities, Supie, Workerly and Bevie, was released last week andshowed a total of $4.3 million in creditor claims, including employee claims.
PwC’s Richard Nacey and Stephen White were appointed as administrators for the three businesses.
“The expectation is that we don’t have a buyer that will continue to operate the business as it was under Supie,” Nacey told the Herald.
Supie creditors are claiming $2.03m while Workerley and Bevie have $1.31m and $57,000 in claims respectively, with $4.3m in creditor claims in total.
Professional fees for the administration cost the company $132,210 in total, with Supie’s fees coming in at $113,176, Workerley’s fees at $12,700 and Bevie’s fees at $6345.
The founder of the online grocery start-up Supie, Sarah Balle. Photo / Maegan McDowell Photography
An anonymous $150,000 donation to pay workers did not cover all employee claims, as the administrators’ report found $267,000 owed to the 118 employees Supie had at the time of administration.
The company’s first liquidator’s report came out last month and stated the company was part of a “highly competitive sector” and went into voluntary administration due to a lack of sales volume and inability to scale the business profitably.
“Further, we understand the business was actively attracting investment capital to fund growth but was unable to secure the required level of investment. The Supie business was unable to continue operating without additional capital...” Nacey and White said.
They also found the companies did not produce annual financial statements.
Creditors included NZ Post, Foodstuffs and Woolworths, Z Energy, New Zealand King Salmon, Allpress Espresso, Trade Aid Importers, NZME, Facebook New Zealand, the New Zealand Sugar Company, Kellogg’s and Coca-Cola Amatil.
Supie's small family fruit and veg bundle box. Photo / Maggie Wicks
Other creditors included Warehouse Stationery, Heinz Wattie’s and Fonterra.
Kepes said, “It does take a couple of hundred million dollars to get to that point [where you can go head-to-head with the two major supermarket chains] and we thought we had a methodology to get to that.
“We were halfway to break-even, so we thought that we would get to break-even on the capital that we had raised, and then we’d have some options.”
Oliver said he would not have invested more in the company: “I invested as a show of support but didn’t agree with their strategy of taking on the big boys directly selling day-to-day items.”
He said, “It was always going to be a tough challenge… I believed in someone who was taking on an audacious goal. She was always going to have to execute brilliantly and get milestones and then get more money.”
Alka Prasad is an Auckland-based business reporter covering small business and retail.
