Mac Supplies drops into administration
Multiple Zones confirms interest in picking up pieces of reseller.
Mail-order business Multiple Zones is lining up to retrieve theer. assets of Apple reseller Universal Computer Systems, which crashed into administration with debts of more than £3.5 million.
Acton-based Universal Computer Systems, which trades as Mac Supplies, approached chartered accountants Grant Thornton on 3 September to assess the reseller's financial situation. The meeting ended with a proposal for a creditor's voluntary arrangement.
But on 16 September, Macintosh distributor Computers Unlimited (CU), a creditor of Universal Computer Systems, applied to the High Court for a winding up petition which failed. On the following day, Finbar O'Connell, a partner at Grant Thornton, and John Alexander, a partner in corporate recovery at Pannell Kerr Forster, were appointed joint administrators to the reseller.
Max Wright, managing director at Multiple Zones, said the company was not interested in taking on the liabilities incurred by the company, but said it would take on the name, some staff, the telephone number and the customer database.
He said Multiple Zones had made an interim agreement with Grant Thornton for Mac Supplies to take customers' orders, while the mail-order firm would process and ship products, taking a slice of the profits.
Industry sources estimated the reseller's total debt stands between £3.5 million and £4 million, including debts of £300,000 owed to CU. Computer 2000 has lost £450,00, while Ingram Micro is looking at a debt of £300,000.
Universal Computer Systems was founded by Apple veteran Anthony Moxon in November 1994. According to figures at Companies House, it showed a net profit of £2.1 million and an increased turnover of £16.3 million, up 117 per cent.
But a source claimed the reseller declared that due to an accounting error in the financial year, Universal Computer Systems had over-stated its retained profit by £150,000 while admitting that over the current trading period, losses were made.