Bankrupt Boathouse companies borrowed from each other to stay afloat

Documents show that before the Boathouse cafe and restaraunt group’s stunning $21.5 million collapse its companies were borrowing large sums of money from each other to keep the wolves from the door. SEE THE LIST OF CREDITORS

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Trading losses and “inadequate cash flow or high cash use” are being blamed by liquidators for the $21.5 million collapse of the trendy Boathouse cafes and restaurants group, documents show.

But Andrew Goldsmith, 47, the boss of the upmarket chain which continues under new owners including his wife Pip Goldsmith, told liquidators that in his opinion his businesses did not “fail”.

Company records lodged with the corporate regulator ASIC reveal that not only did the former businesses leave 537 creditors unpaid, they borrowed from each other to stay afloat.

Aqua Lagoon, which formerly owned the Boathouse Patonga on the Central Coast, owed $1,860,167 to five of the other nine companies.

It also owed $245,321 to the AP Goldsmith Family Trust, of which Mr Goldsmith is the sole director.

Another of the former companies, United Beachfront, which provided administrative services to the group, owed a staggering $3,394,656 to six of the companies in the group including $2,088,371 it borrowed from Boathouse Moby Dicks Pty Ltd which ran Moby Dicks at Whale Beach.

Creditors who were left out of pocket when the nine companies that made up the Boathouse empire went into liquidation in August last year days after being sold have accused them of leaving a “trail of destruction”.

Andrew Goldsmith loading plants onto a Water Taxi at Palm Beach. Pictures: Matrix

His wife Pip leaves to head to work at the Palm Beach restaurant. Picture: Matrix

Liquidator Richard Stone, who was appointed liquidator of United Beachfront, reported that the only assets he had been able to realise from that company was the sale of its phone numbers for $5000.

In his response to the liquidators’ questionnaire for directors about the reason for the financial difficulties, Mr Goldsmith, who remains managing director of the Boathouse group, wrote that the business of the companies did not fail.

Jono and Ben Isaac, who have bought the Boathouse Group, pictured at The Boathouse Balmoral. Picture: Ryan Osland

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Mr Goldsmith, who became personally bankrupt on May 26, told The Daily Telegraph on Sunday that the companies grew too fast, particularly with the most recent takeover of historic Barrenjoey House and the renovations to the Patonga Hotel.