A company that owned a string of air conditioning and heating businesses has collapsed, owing up to $2 million and leaving staff out of work.
Pact Services Group went into liquidation on March 20, with its companies Pact Heating and Cooling, Pact Commercial, Pact Home Solutions, Pact Solar, Pact Service and North East Heating, Cooling and Solar going out of business.
Pact Services Group owes more than $2 million to at least 100 creditors in total. news.com.au reported.
One former staff member told the publication he had been sacked on the spot once the company went into liquidation and said employees had been left “destitute, without pay or pension”.
Jason Stone and Paul Allan, from restructuring firm PKF, have been appointed liquidators.
Pact Services Group went into liquidation on March 20, with its companies Pact Heating and Cooling, Pact Commercial, Pact Home Solutions, Pact Solar, Pact Service and North East Heating (pictured), Cooling and Solar going out of business.
The company, which was based in Dandenong, southeast of Melbourne, offered construction and maintenance services in air conditioning, electrical, plumbing and solar energy in commercial and domestic settings.
The Australian Taxation Office, banks, staff, suppliers and landlords are among the creditors.
The liquidators sent staff an email informing them they were owed entitlements.
“We have been informed that you are a former employee of the company and the company’s records indicate that you have accrued rights owed to you as an employee,” it said.
“There are currently insufficient funds in the settlement to settle your outstanding entitlements as an employee. In this regard, we request that you proceed to file a claim with the Department of Employment.”
The former employee said there were layoffs late last year and about eight or nine of his office’s 30 workers were laid off.
Pac Services Group is understood to have been in operation for around 47 years.
More to come