Fashion chain, food maker hit the skids

Fashion chain, food maker hit the skids


WOMEN'S fashion chain Ojay and a convenience store food maker have been put in the hands of administrators, threatening hundreds of jobs and delivering a double blow to the shaky retail sector.
Only a day after Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showed overall retail sales fell 0.8 per cent in July, the worst monthly result in nearly two years, Ojay and Australian Convenience Foods have added their names to the list of recently failed retail businesses.
Just as news broke of the collapse of Ojay, which has 22 stores, it was revealed that the directors of ACF had called in administrators, with the nation's biggest supplier of fresh ready-to-eat foods looking for a white knight to save it and its 400 full-time and casual staff.


ACF is privately owned and was backed by private equity firm CHAMP Ventures, which is believed to own about 75 per cent of the business along with directors and other partners. CHAMP Ventures would not comment.
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ACF supplied thousands of petrol stations, convenience stores and supermarkets.
Joint administrator Vaughan Strawbridge of Deloitte said the company had been losing money for at least 12 months and was in the midst of a corporate restructure when it decided to place the business in voluntary administration last Tuesday.
There was no bank debt, with the largest creditors consisting of staff and an invoice discounting finance group. Deloitte is seeking a buyer for the business.
''We are looking at the financial position of the business, we are continuing to trade the business and we are running a quick-sale process,'' Mr Strawbridge said.
ACF had annual sales of about $75 million.

Meanwhile, Ojay became the latest in a long list of casualties in the retail sector. Ojay was founded in 1976 and has stores in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. It also sells its clothes in David Jones.
Joint administrator David Coyne, of Lowe Lippmann, said the company would meet its payroll commitments today, while two stores slated for closure before the administration were still set to shut.
The depth of Ojay's financial troubles is unclear, but it is not alone in the fashion world to be buckling under the weight of a stagnant economy and less consumer spending.
The retail sector has been hit with a wave of collapses, especially in fashion, including Brown Sugar, Bettina Liano, Ed Harry and Fletcher Jones. Fashion retailers have not been the only ones to struggle, with bookshops Borders and Angus & Robertson and confectionery company Darrell Lea also in trouble.