Collapse of Wicklow Company Costs 109 Jobs

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Collapse of Wicklow Company Costs 109 Jobs

Sunday, March 25 2007

More than 100 employees of a Redcross, Co Wicklow manufacturing company have lost their jobs following the discovery of a series of major accountancy discrepancies in the company’s books.

Swedex, a manufacturer of Swedish windows and doors, collapsed last week with multi-million euro debts and the loss of 109 jobs. The High Court put the company into provisional liquidation on Friday, following a petition by the company’s directors.

Many customers who paid deposits for doors and windows will lose significant sums. The court was told the company’s directors had discovered accounting errors earlier this year. The errors came to light following the appointment of a new senior member of staff, the court heard.

Ms Justice Laffoy was told the errors had the effect of distorting the company’s true financial performance. The errors included the misposting of invoices, credit notes not being accounted for, and the mispricing of jobs based on incorrect data. The court was told these mistakes, coupled with a poor trading year, meant the company lost more than €2 million last year. It was unable to recover from these losses.

The judge approved the appointment of Michael McAteer, an accountant with Dublin firm Foster McAteer, as provision liquidator. McAteer will now try to sell the company’s assets. Swedex, which is incorporated as Swedex Windows and Doors, was established in 2001.The company is owned by Charlotte Gervais and Shane McLoughlin, according to documents filed at the Companies Registration Office.

The company made a pretax profit of €660,000 in 2005, and had retained profits of €998,000 at the end of the year.

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