Receiver says Designline forward order book has value

Designline's factory. File photo

Collapsed Canterbury bus maker Designline International has a valuable forward order book, according to receiver Keiran Horne.

"There has to be some real value in the ongoing orders," she said, but declined to disclose the size of the order book.

The company is continuing to trade while Ms Horne and Craig Melhuish of HFK chartered accountants, as receivers, work to repay BNZ, then hand on to a liquidator.

About 75 workers are continuing to work for the company while the receiver works on selling the business.

"The sales process needs to kick off as soon as possible," Ms Horne said.

All of the company's assets are for sale, including plant and intangible assets, such as registered patents. The receiver was investigating where the ownership of the intellectual property lay, Ms Horne said.

The company is wholly owned by Designline International Holdings, which is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It last reported accounts to the Companies Office for the year to December 2008 when it had a surplus of $877,264 from sales of $41.7 million. At the end of 2008 the company had a raw material and work in progress inventory of nearly $6m.

At the end of 2008 BNZ was owed $2.4m, of which $1.9m was an overdraft and $508,733 was a mortgage.

Bus companies, including Ritchies, are interested in the company's asset and a potential Malaysian buyer was mentioned in the High Court.

The High Court earlier appointed the Official Assignee as liquidator after applications by two creditors owed more than $1.8m between them.

The Press reported that Designline is an unlimited company, which raises the question of whether its shareholders are liable for all its debts. That was a matter for the liquidator.

Designline was founded in Ashburton in 1986. It was bought in 2006 by the Glosson family of North Carolina who embarked on a large expansion setting up a factory in Charlotte, and shifting Designline to a new base at Rolleston, south of Christchurch.

- NZPA