Fletchers goes to the auction block

Date: 22.06.2010

Auctions will be held across four states as liquidators attempt to salvage return from failed carrier Fletchers Freighters

By Brad Gardner | June 22, 2010

Auctions will be held across four states in the coming weeks as liquidators attempt to salvage a return from failed carrier Fletchers Freighters.

Fletchers went into administration in March this year, but administrator McGathNicol was forced to liquidate the business when a buyer would not come forward to save the company.

Auctions will be held in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia on company assets.

Slattery Auctions will put Kenworths, Volvos, Isuzus and Ivecos under the hammer on June 17.Trailers, some still adorned with the Fletchers name, will also be auctioned.

Slatterys will hold a second auction in NSW on June 23 on trucks and trailers before Laudiston Valuers and Auctioneers holds the Queensland auction.

It has listed four Kenworths and three Volvos for auction, while another 19 trailers will also be up for bid.

The last auction will be held in Fletchers’ hometown of Berri in South Australia and spread across two days.

Mason Gray Strange will auction 50 prime movers – including Freightliner, WesternStar and Volvo – and 101 trailers on July 6.

The second auction will be used to flog general company assets including prestige vehicles, forklifts and workshop tools.

Trucking parts for wrecking will also be open for bid, alongside a truck yard that includes a weigh bridge, loading ramp and truck ramps.

"Throughout the administration process no viable restructuring option was put forward and we did not receive any offers to buy the transport business," Sam Davies from McGrathNicol says.

"This left us with little alternative following the creditors' resolution other than to shut the business down."

Fletchers, a family owned business, was founded in 1948. It lost a contract with National Foods and sub-contracting work with Linfox, devastating its bottom line and prompting it to call in advisory firm McGrathNicol.

While there were expressions of interest in the company, no potential buyer was prepared to make an offer.

"Liquidation of the business though does not necessarily mean there will be no sale. We will now open discussions with the financiers and start planning the sale strategy and sale campaign," Davies says.