White Marquee, Renniks, owe $1.69 million to the tax office

The parent company of White Marquee Event Hire and Renniks was in trouble before the pandemic struck, administrators say.

White Marquee chief executive Greg Evangelou. PICTURE: Tait Schmaal.

The company behind White Marquee Event Hire and Renniks owes $1.69m to the Australian Taxation Office, and was facing trading difficulties before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, its administrators say.

Adelaide Event Group, which trades as White Marquee Event Hire, Budget Party Hire and Renniks Events, was placed in voluntary administration in mid-December, with debts estimated at $5.7m.

The companies are continuing to trade, with administrator Stuart Otway from SV Partners saying they would continue to operate while the company’s affairs were worked through.

“The company is trading as normal and all bookings are being met and will likely be met into the future,’’ Mr Otway said this week.

The next meeting of creditors is likely to be held on February 1, Mr Otway said.

White Marquee chief executive Greg Evangelou told News Corp Australia last month the company had experienced an almost 100 per cent fall in revenues as the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year.

But the minutes from the first creditors meeting, held earlier this month, indicate administrators believe the company was struggling prior to that.

“The chairman (Mr Otway) explained that investigations into the history of the company are currently being undertaken, but that the company has experienced financial difficulty since approximately December 2019,’’ the minutes of the meeting say.

“The chairperson also noted that the company experienced further economic downfall in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.’’

The meeting heard that the company employed about 20 full-time staff and 50-60 casual staff.

As well as the ATO being owed $1.69m, the minutes show that Return to Work SA is claiming $72,662, the company’s landlord is claiming $193,794 and law firm Commercial and Legal is claiming $47,517.

SV Partners has previously said it “remains optimistic that a formal restructure will allow the company to successfully trade into the future’’.

White Marquee, based at Marleston, has supplied events such as the Tour Down Under, the Adelaide Motorsport Festival and the Royal Adelaide Show.

This is not the first time the White Marquee brand has been in administration.

Budget Party Hire Pty Ltd, which previously operated White Marquee and was operated by Greg Evangelou, was placed in liquidation in 2015, with $1.4m in debt including $575,000 owed to the ANZ bank and $224,442 owed to the Australian Taxation Office.

Budget Party Hire Pty Ltd was liquidated and then deregistered in 2017.

The White Marquee brand was reborn into Adelaide Event Group, which Greg’s father Nicholas Evangelou is the sole director of.

Greg Evangelou has been contacted for comment.