Micro Direct leaves string of channel creditors out of pocket

Manchester-based e-tailer Micro Direct has left a trail of unsecured creditors in its wake, who are owed £880,000.

The firm was the subject of a winding up petition by Micro-Peripherals in June over unpaid bills worth £70,000, but at the time distributor and channel sources claimed the online reseller once had a solid payment history.

Micro Direct called in receivers Cooper Williamson in the same month due to cashflow woes, and it sold the assets of the business to Dormir for £35,000.

The administrator's statement of affairs report shows that trade and expense creditors amounted to £893,000 and the expected deficiency for non-preferential creditors is estimated at £880,000.

Those left out of pocket include Micro-P, which was owed £168,000; Computer 2000 was owed £126,000 while Ingram Micro, Enta Technologies and CCI Distribution were all in for £65,000, £59,000 and £45,000 respectively.

A creditors' meeting has been scheduled for 13 April at liquidator Grant Thornton's offices in Manchester.

The number of reseller insolvencies reached highs last year not seen since the millennium when the web bubble popped with retail, SME and web shops mainly impacted. ®