Funds missing after Mrs Christmas hampers collapse

Chef Annabelle White is a small shareholder in Mrs Christmas and fronted promotional material for the firm. Photo / Supplied

The liquidators of Christmas hamper provider Mrs Christmas are investigating the disappearance of $600,000 from the company.

Mrs Christmas collapsed in April owing $6 million and leaving 3500 customers in the lurch.

Rival hamper company Chrisco came to the rescue of customers, crediting them with the amount they had paid and offering them a comparable Chrisco package for the remainder of the year.

"We are investigating the misallocation of $600,000 in funds from the company," said Mrs Christmas liquidators Damien Grant and Steven Khov.

"This money appears to have been withdrawn ... without the knowledge or consent of most of the directors."

Legal action is being taken to recover the funds, they said.

However they say other factors also contributed to Mrs Christmas' demise.

The company's ill-fated expansion into Australia "cost the business many hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct costs, and diverted the directors and managers' attention from the core New Zealand operations".

The Australian business was sold for a huge loss last year.

Mrs Christmas also tried to undercut the opposition with aggressive pricing, and its emphasis on customer service resulted in it being overstaffed. This led to the business running at an annual operating loss.

Mrs Christmas was put into liquidation by courier company Post Haste, which is still owed for Christmas deliveries, but there is a long list of suppliers who are also out of pocket.

Celebrity chef Annabelle White, who used to front promotional material for Mrs Christmas, is a small shareholder in the company.