Sydney furniture companies collapse with $500k in undelivered orders
However, the companies were locked out of their headquarters in mid-June due to unpaid rent. Administrators Simon Cathro and Andrew Blundell from Cathro and Partners wrote in a report that the landlord issued a termination notice effective June 30. Trading was halted when administrators were appointed to prevent further losses. The Inventis Group is estimated to owe $2.6million to the Australian Tax Office, with the ATO issuing a director's penalty notice in June.
The notice, addressed to the company's managing director, Anthony Mankarios, was for $1.4million in unpaid PAYG withholding tax dating back to August 2020. About $1.6million is owed to the company's staff, with the amount excluding the outstanding severance pay for the terminated employees. Inventis HR Services, one of the companies that was plunged into administration, has the largest outstanding debts. The firm, which employed the 55 staff members working throughout the group, owes $18.5million to creditors. An estimated $14.1million of the total debts relate to other groups within the company, such as the Inventis Technology division.
About $4.4million in debts to creditors was owed by Inventis Properties, $5.6million owed by Gregory Commercial Furniture, $715,752 owed by Workstations, while Bassett Furniture owed $490,650 in total debts. The administrators explained the company had tried to restructure and cut costs after a drop in sales, but the measures failed to address the company's underlying issues. In the past two years, sales across Bassett, Gregory and Workstations had more than halved, plunging from $10.1million in 2023 to just $4million in 2025. Manufacturing at the Arndell Park site was halted in May after a storm caused leaking and unsafe work conditions, delaying $200,000 worth of orders. The group also incurred $321,000 in termination-related costs in March. In their report, the administrators wrote that the group's companies had potentially been trading since insolvent since June 2024.
The administrators have urged creditors to vote in favour of liquidation at a meeting on Friday. If the company is put into liquidation, creditors will are unlikely to recover any of the debts owed. Company directors had told the administrators they were seeking asset realisations; the process of converting assets into cash or cash equivalents. The asset realisation could potentially include a co-investment, which, if successful would result in creditors and staff being paid. The administrators' report explained the businesses and assets were also up for sale. Three offers to purchase the companies have since been submitted, with one offer under negotiation. The sale, however, is only for the business and its assets, and would not include the transfer of employees, the administrators' report said.
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