The last 21 Australian Dick Smith stores will shut for good on May 3, 2016
The remaining 195 Australian Dick Smith stores will close between April 27 and May 3, 2016.
In announcing closing dates for the stores, Receivers, Ferrier Hodgson, said the final 21 stores to close on May 3 would be:
- NSW: George St, Sydney; Central Plaza, Sydney; Carindale; Coffs Harbour; Macarthur Square; Mulgoa Rd, Penrith; Muswellbrook; Robina; Warringah Mall
- Queensland: Fountain Gate; Geelong; Garden City, Mt Gravatt; Noosa; Stockland, Rockhampton
- Victoria: Melbourne - Bourke St; Melbourne - Emporium
- WA: Albany, Armadale, Innaloo, Northland
The last day of trade in New Zealand is April 29 when 20 stores will shut their doors for good.
Receiver James Stewart said “We would like to thank the Dick Smith employees for their
support during the Receivership. This has been a difficult and uncertain time for them and we
have really appreciated their assistance and commitment.”
All Australian employee entitlements rank as priority unsecured claims ahead of the secured creditors and are expected to be paid in full.
Preferential entitlements of New Zealand employees rank ahead of the secured creditors, and are expected to be paid in full up to a maximum statutory limit of $NZD22,160 under New Zealand law.
Ferrier Hodgson anticipated that the payment of employee entitlements including annual and long service leave should be completed by mid-June 2016.
It's a sad end to a 48-year history that began in 1968 when the company was founded by Dick Smith, who owned it - with his wife - until 1982 when they sold to Woolworths for $25 million.
Thirty years later, DSE was sold by Woolworths to Australian investment firm, Anchorage Capital Partners, in a deal announced on January 31, 2012.
The new owners floated the company on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in December 2013 with a market capitalisation listed at $520 million.
By December 2015, its share price had fallen 80 per cent and, in January 2016, a halt in trading was requested.
On January 5, 2016, Dick Smith Holdings Limited (and associated entities) was placed into administration by its creditors. On February 25, the receivers announced they had been unable to sell the company and as a result all 363 stores in A/NZ would be closed. A rolling schedule of closure was later announced.
About 2460 staff in Australia and 430 in New Zealand will be or have been made redundant.
