The Napier site of Trev Terry Marine. The Taupō-based company bought Napier firm Firman Marine in late 2022 but fell into receivership in February this year. Photo / Paul Taylor
The Napier site of Trev Terry Marine. The Taupō-based company bought Napier firm Firman Marine in late 2022 but fell into receivership in February this year. Photo / Paul Taylor
Taupō-based Trev Terry Marine had receivers appointed in February after the business defaulted on its debt obligations following a rapid expansion plan.
Receivers Neale Jackson and Natalie Burrett ofCalibre Partners initially continued to trade the business before running a sale process.
However, that did not result in any viable offers for the business or individual branches, and while Trev Terry’s directors presented a refinancing proposal, the receivers decided to wind up the company at the end of May.
Trev Terry operated branches in Taupō, Kinloch, Tūrangi, Napier, Invercargill and Wānaka and had employed 67 staff at the time of receivership.
The receivers said they have since sold the Wānaka site and other assets via a public sale process, while assets secured to individual financiers (mainly boats) were returned.
According to the second receivers’ report, $7.09m has been realised in the receivership, including about $3.56m from boat sales.
However, the outlook is not good for most creditors, including the BNZ which was owed $5.7m as of August 22.
So far, no distributions have been made to the bank.
“The receivers are still in the process of realising assets, and it is too early to determine what may be available to BNZ. A shortfall is expected,” Jackson and Burrett said.
“Other creditors holding security over the company assets [mainly being financiers of individual boat inventory] have been paid $2.38m.”
Employees, whose preferential claims totalled $315,812, have been paid $305,500 in total.
Inland Revenue has put in a claim for $405,696 and the receivers said that while they expected a distribution to be paid, it was too early to say how much that would be.
The company sold a range of boats including Haines Hunter (pictured).
The receivers were paid remuneration of $539,389 and disbursements of $52,296 in the six months to August 22.
At the date of receivership, Trev Terry recorded about $1.99m of unsecured debt, which is not likely to be repaid.
“Based on the current information, there is an anticipated shortfall to the secured creditor. As such we do not anticipate there will be a distribution to unsecured creditors,” Jackson and Burrett said.
Founded in 1990, Trev Terry traded as a dealer of new and used boats in Taupō and became a well-known brand as it expanded to Tūrangi and Kinloch.
Through 2021 and 2022 the company became more aggressive, acquiring dealerships in Napier, Wānaka, and Invercargill while also expanding its service centre and retail offering in Taupō.
The company sold a range of boats including Buccaneer, Stabicraft, Haines Hunter, Fi-Glass, and Regal models.
The receivers highlighted three reasons why the company faced financial difficulty:
Challenging trading conditions in the boating and marine market;
Issues integrating the acquisitions into existing operations; and
High levels of debt combined with rising interest rates.
The company was placed in receivership after defaulting on its loan facilities.
Trev Terry directors, Brock and Trevor Terry, put forward a conditional proposal to refinance the secured debt, which the receivers negotiated on.
“Following five weeks of negotiation, the refinance remained highly conditional with no certainty of completion.
“With risk to creditors from losses accruing that were depleting the asset base, we made the decision to wind down the company on May 30, 2024.”
