Office products firm folds

One of the country’s larger suppliers of office products, Corporate Consumables, has ceased trading, according to a notice on its website.

An industry source said the 27-yearold Wellington-based firm employed about 50 staff and had an annual turnover of about $30 million.

It had offices in Auckland, Dunedin, Nelson, Christchurch and Tauranga as well as in the capital.

A notice on Corporate Consumables’ website said it had ceased trading on the Friday before Christmas ahead of an orderly wind-down and a ‘‘huge stock sale’’.

‘‘Unfortunately, a number of factors have combined to create a situation where Corporate Consumables in its current state is unsustainable as a business,’’ the statement said.

‘‘The decision to cease trading is not a decision that has been taken lightly. Over the last 12 months the directors, management and their advisors have explored every possible option to keep the company trading and return it to profitability,’’ it explained.

Director Roger Blaylock has been contacted for further comment.

Corporate Consumables previously hit the headlines in 2009 when its Auckland warehouse burnt down, sending a huge pall of smoke over Mt Wellington.

Its withdrawal from the market may have wider implications following the accounting scandal at Fuji Xerox NZ.

Along with OfficeMax, Australia’s Office Products Depot and Winc New Zealand, it is one of four companies able to supply office products to public-sector agencies under Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment all-ofgovernment contracts negotiated in 2015.

Fuji Xerox NZ was suspended from supplying printers and copiers to publicsector agencies and axed from providing other office supplies in October because of its accounting scandal.

United States private equity firm Platinum Equity, which owns Winc, is currently attempting to take over OfficeMax in a trans-Tasman deal that could leave public sector agencies only two office products suppliers.