Thomas Paul Security: Administrator reveals company’s debts

The administrator of a Tasmanian security company which employs up to 70 workers has revealed the scale of the business’ debts following the first creditors’ meeting.

The administrator of a Tasmanian security company which employs up to 70 full-time, part-time and casual workers has revealed the business owes approximately $1.8m (subsequently revealed to be about $2.2m).

Thomas Paul Security, which is based at Prospect, Launceston, called in administrators from Deloitte earlier this month after what director Matt Radford described as a two-year “restructure” of the business involving an upward revision of their price structure to make it more sustainable.

Mr Radford previously told the Mercury the security industry in Tasmania was in a race to the bottom as operators “undercut” each other to secure business.

He said he was confident the business would survive the wobble and was grateful for the support the business had received from its customers and employees.

A first creditors meeting was held in Launceston on Thursday, with the Mercury barred from entering.

However, speaking after the meeting, administrator Travis Anderson said Thomas Paul owed approximately $1.8m (subsequently revealed after the publication of the creditors report with ASIC to be about $2.2m).

Thomas Paul Security director Matt Radford and GM Cassidy Jelfs. Picture: Facebook

About $60,000 was owed to employees in superannuation and benefits, with the other debts owed to a handful of “significant” unsecured creditors, one of which Mr Anderson confirmed was the Australian Taxation Office.

The other – Mr Radford previously said there were only two creditors, not including employees – is understood to be a trade creditor.

Mr Anderson said Deloitte had “started a competitive sale/recapitalisation campaign”, with the first expressions of interest due next week.

“From there we can work out whether or not the business is saleable or can be recapitalised,” Mr Anderson said.

He said there was “some level of interest” in the business as a result of the Deloitte campaign.

Mr Anderson said it was still to early to determine the outcome of the administration.

“We’ve taken the view it’s business as usual,” he said.

A second creditors’ meeting will be held at the end of April, with the Deloitte report into the business’ operations due to be released at ASIC shortly afterwards.

Thomas Paul Security provides a range of security services to customers throughout Tasmania including alarm and security system installation, 24-hour alarm monitoring and incident response, cash transit services, security patrols and static guards.

It was founded as a partnership between Mr Radford and John Paul Sutcliffe, with the former now the sole director of the company after Mr Sutcliffe relocated to Melbourne in 2002.