Liquidator appointed to Silverdale Mad Butcher store

The original Mad Butcher store in Mangere (pictured) went into liquidation in July.

The owner of the Silverdale Mad Butcher has been put into liquidation, adding to a string of business failures in the meat chain.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment confirmed that the Official Assignee was appointed liquidator of Lovett & Sons - the operator of the Silverdale outlet - on Friday by order of the High Court.

The appointment followed an application by the Inland Revenue Department to liquidate the company for failure to pay tax.

The Silverdale store is at least the 11th Mad Butcher outlet to have gone into liquidation, receivership or been closed down in recent years.

The original Mad Butcher store, established by Sir Peter Leitch in the 1970s, went into liquidation in July.

NZX-listed Veritas Investments, which acquired the butchery chain in 2013, closed three company-owned Mad Butcher stores during the second half of its last financial year.

When reporting its full-year result in August, Veritas said that despite the "challenging environment" the majority of Mad Butcher stores were trading profitably.

A Veritas spokeswoman said the firm wasn't able to comment on the Silverdale liquidation given the matter was "personal to the company's owners".

"The Mad Butcher will consider options for the future of the store once the Official Assignee has been in contact," she said.

There are 33 stores in the Mad Butcher chain, two of which are owned by Veritas.

Veritas shares were this afternoon trading down 18.5 per cent on Friday's close at 22c.