Ten Four Ads Agency: Mermaid Beach marketing outfit wound up amid alleged $1.8 million debt

The Federal Court has ordered a Mermaid Beach outfit into liquidation after a voluntary administrator’s report found evidence of insolvent trading and company cash flowing into the director’s personal account.

Ten Four Ads Agency Pty Ltd director and owner Thomas Hiscocks. Picture: Ten Four

A court has ordered a Gold Coast marketing outfit into liquidation after an administrator’s report concluded the business had debts of $1.8 million and made a number of questionable transactions, including nearly $470,000 that flowed into the director’s own bank accounts.

The Australian Taxation Office, which is the largest unsecured creditor, made an application to wind up Mermaid Beach-based Ten Four Ads Agency Pty Ltd, trading as Ten Four, in January.

On Wednesday, Judicial Registrar Geoff Segal granted the order, with a liquidator appointed to divide the company’s meagre assets between creditors, which include dudded employees.

In between the ATO’s application and Wednesday’s decision to wind up the company in insolvency, company director Thomas Hiscocks, 48, of Mermaid Waters, appointed Joshua Philip Taylor as voluntary administrator.

Company administrator Joshua Philip Taylor. Picture: LinkedIn

On April 11, Mr Taylor released a damning report into the company’s affairs, finding evidence of the non-payment of employee superannuation, insolvent trading, and uncommercial transactions, and unreasonable director-related transactions.

According to Mr Taylor’s report, the company is estimated to owe $1,815,281.31 – against assets worth just $23,084 – with the lion’s share of the debt, $1,282,455.34, due to the ATO by way of unpaid tax liabilities (most of the remainder is related-party debts).

Employees are estimated to be owed $140,960, made up of superannuation, leave entitlements, wages, and payment in lieu of notice.

One employee has lodged a claim alleging they are owed $22,333.45.

The money owed to employees also includes about $34,000 in unpaid superannuation claimed by Mr Hiscocks and partner Tamra Forde, who owns a separate company, Tenfour Media Pty Ltd, a marketing firm that handles Indigenous clients (Ms Forde is a Bundjalung woman).

Tenfour Media Pty Ltd director Tamra Forde, the partner of Ten Four Ads Agency Pty Ltd director Thomas Hiscocks. Picture: Tenfour Media

Mr Taylor, in his report, said there were a number of facets of the company’s operations that required further investigation, particularly the flow of money between company accounts and Mr Hiscocks’ own personal accounts.

According to Mr Taylor, in the four years prior to his appointment, $469,613 had been paid by the company to Mr Hiscocks, ostensibly as repayment for drawings from a director loan account.

However, there was a “lack of source documentation”, meaning the veracity of the purported loans from Mr Hiscocks to his company were unable to be assessed at this early stage.

Additionally, Mr Taylor said the transfer of a client, Singapore-based art gallery and advisory, Art Works Pte Ltd, to Ms Forde’s company Tenfour Media Pty Ltd, also required further investigation (Mr Hiscocks says the client was transferred because it had turned into a loss-maker).

Tom Hiscocks out on the town in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Jerad Williams/File

He believed Mr Hiscocks’ company had been trading insolvent since at least June 2023.

Directors can be made liable for debts incurred after the date of insolvency, but it would depend on whether the director has financial capacity to meet such a claim.

Mr Taylor said Mr Hiscocks did not own any real property and it appeared he would not have such capacity, should a claim be lodged.

As part of the voluntary administration process, Mr Hiscocks proposed a deed of company arrangement, in which Mr Hiscocks would stump up $290,000 in order to fully repay priority creditors (i.e. employees), and return eight cents in the dollar to other creditors such as the ATO.

In return, it would be allowed to continue trading as a going concern.

However, this was not acceptable to the ATO, and Mr Segal ruled that there was no sense putting the proposal to a vote of creditors when the pre-eminent creditor, the ATO, opposed it.

Originally published as Ten Four Ads Agency: Mermaid Beach marketing outfit wound up amid alleged $1.8 million debt