New Zealand's "father of franchising", Colin Taylor, says he expects to lose a large amount of money after the collapse of his son's business, The Building Depot.
Taylor senior founded the Stirling Sports chain more than 40 years ago - leading to his nickname - before last year sellingit to his son, Mark. A few months later Mark Taylor bought The Building Depot from Fletcher Building and told of his plans to list the companies on the stock exchange's main board.
Taylor's company RetailX, in which he shares ownership of the brands, is listed on NZAX, a board for business minnows. Yesterday, its trading was suspended.
Details on The Building Depot's receivership and how it would affect its affiliated companies were murky yesterday.
It's understood ANZ called in the receivers after the company breached a financial covenant of its contract. However, the bank would not comment and receiver Rod Pardington, of Deloitte, did not return calls.
Mark Taylor was unavailable but his father said the two brands shared a head office and "everything has an effect ... I don't know what the effect will be".
Taylor said his family "has lost the most money of everyone. We had a big investment in The Building Depot ... I had an investment in Mark."
Taylor said he did not think The Building Depot was insolvent but did not expect to be paid back the millions that he left in Stirling Sports. Fletcher Building sold the eight store Building Depot chain, which had an annual revenue of about $60 million, partly because it was unhappy with its financial performance.
It's understood the Stirling Sport franchise of 40-odd stores has also been having troubles, in recent months, with at least two outlets leaving the chain, one after calling in the lawyers.
