ferrone cause another coy to bust

AUSTRALIA'S TRAVELSHOP FOLDS AS ACCOUNTANT DECLARES BANKRUPTCY
415 words
23 March 2007


The bankrupting of a Perth accountant has triggered the collapse of the national Travelshop chain of travel agencies, it was reported today.

Travelshop has an outlet in Fremantle and nine other shops throughout Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney - all of which have closed their doors, The West Australian said today.

Perth insolvency specialists Mark Conlan and Neil Cribb from RSM Bird Cameron Partners were appointed administrators of Travelshop and three other companies controlled by Joe Ferrone on Tuesday after the Perth businessman went into bankruptcy last week.

The other companies include Sportsnet Holidays, a wholesale travel business specialising in packaged tours to big sporting events.

Bankruptcy trustee Ron Gamble said yesterday that Mr Ferrone had declared debts of about $A3.5 million ($US2.82 million).

The collapse does not affect the Travelshop outlets in Geraldton, Adelaide Terrace, Yokine and Mirrabooka, which are owned independently by Joe Cicirello and have no connection to Mr Ferrone's failed business empire.

Administrators have separately been appointed to Mr Ferrone's North Perth accounting practice, Joe Ferrone & Co.

Mr Cribb said yesterday that the financier to Mr Ferrone's companies, ANZ (ASX:ANZ), had an exposure of "a couple of million dollars," to the companies now under his control, though he said it was too early to estimate the total group debts. He said discussions were already underway with interested parties to take over the travel business.

Mr Cribb said customers who had pre-paid for travel through the affected Travelshop outlets before his appointment were able to seek compensation through the NSW-based Travel Compensation Fund.

Fund chief executive Glen Wells confirmed yesterday that any financially disadvantaged customers would be able to claim compensation from either the fund or their credit card provider because Travelshop was a licensed travel agency.

Mr Ferrone's financial problems became public last month when it was revealed he had agreed to a repay about $350,000 in unauthorised payments to Australian Waterwise Solutions, the sharemarket-listed parent company of the Hugall & Hoile irrigation chain of which he was the former chairman.

However, the company was forced to write off most of that amount when Mr Ferrone was declared bankrupt last week. His personal assets include eight million shares in Australian Waterwise Solutions, which were worth about $300,000 at their last sale quote of 3.8 cents.

Mr Ferrone could not be contacted for comment yesterday.