Corporate Express's case against school books supplier Wooldridges for non-payment of invoices for $3.6 million worth of stationery products has hit a significant hurdle with the appointment of administrators to Wooldridges' parent company Education Works Pty Ltd.
Accounting firm Grant Thornton said Wooldridges, which supplies hundreds of Western Australian and South Australian primary and secondary schools with books and educational equipment, has "insufficient" funds to keep going and has decided to close all six WA stores and make 85 staff redundant.
Wooldridges and Corporate Express Australia are locked in a court battle over delivery delays which resulted in thousands of WA students starting school this year without ordered textbooks and stationery.
Corporate Express began proceedings by suing Wooldridges in the NSW Supreme Court over the non-payment of $3.6 million of invoices. Wooldridges retaliated by seeking more than $15 million in damages from Corporate Express, claiming it suffered "severe losses" because of the late delivery of education supplies in the crucial back-to-school period in January.
Wooldridges claims that 25 per cent of deliveries ordered from Corporate Express never arrived, while some were six months late.
Corporate Express head of marketing Geoff White confirmed the company's case against Wooldridges for unpaid invoices. White told Stationery News that the company could not issue a comment as the matter is before the courts.
A meeting for Wooldridges creditors, suppliers and customers is scheduled for early August.
Wooldridges started as a family business in Perth in the 1960s. It was then bought by Sydney-based private equity firm Fulcrum Capital Partners in 2008.
