NEWSPAPER CLOSURE: $5M DEBT
THE true extent of the demise of Queensland Media Holdings Pty Ltd, publisher of the Toowoomba Telegraph newspaper, has been revealed with a debt of more than $5 million.
The debt is listed in a circular sent to creditors by liquidators BRI Ferrier and obtained by the Daily Mercury in Mackay.
It includes $199,447 in superannuation and $391,240 in unpaid wages and other staff entitlements, as well as $4.46m owed to unsecured creditors.
Despite the massive debt, QMH chief executive officer Darren McVean always told staff he was optimistic about the financial future of the company up until the day before liquidators closed them down, according to one of his former senior managers.
Mr McVean even went as far as to say billionaire Clive Palmer was interested in buying out the troubled newspaper, Mackay Telegraph former general manager Tim Shinnick said.
But a spokesperson for Mr Palmer denied this.
Former Toowoomba Telegraph general manager Adam Duffus said more than half of $4.46m indebted to unsecured creditors was actually owed to the McVean family which it “had never expected to recover”.
“It sounds worse than it is... but it’s dead and buried and I think we should move on, to be fair,” Mr Duffus said.
Toowoomba Telegraph workers were optimistic about the company’s financial state from the outset.
“At the beginning, all the staff met with Darren’s father, Graham McVean,” Mr Duffus said.
“He was a director of the Seven Network for 14 years and owns a private island... so he’s wealthy.
“He said he had given his backing to the company and was in for the long haul.”
Mr Duffus said he felt no resentment over the company’s insolvency.
“Businesses fail all the time... We had a red hot go,” he said.
QMH, which employed about 35 staff, also published the Mackay Telegraph, with a newspaper also in operation in Rockhampton until just prior to liquidation.
Mr Shinnick said he was shocked by the amount, particularly considering the revenue that was coming in.
He said he received a phone call from liquidators the day before they closed.
“He (Mr McVean) wasn’t taking the liquidator’s phone calls. He was barely taking my phone calls.
“I had to physically go around to his house the day of the closure to tell him to come tell staff what is going on. He had been telling everyone the business was fine.”
The letter to creditors read: “The only financial information available to us was in the form of internal accounts. We believe the account keeping was of very poor quality”.
Mr McVean’s mobile number is disconnected. Attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.