Canadian architectural glass products manufacturer Goldray Inc., has filed for bankruptcy-court protection in the hope of reorganizing its debt, the company announced 22 September 2003.
The move came…
Canadian architectural glass products manufacturer Goldray Inc., has filed for bankruptcy-court protection in the hope of reorganizing its debt, the company announced 22 September 2003. The move came five days after Goldray announced that negotiations with a possible purchaser of “substantially all““ of the company“s assets ended without a deal. The asset sale would have been valued at between CAD 900,000 and CAD 1.1 million, plus certain company liabilities. Goldray had planned to “cease active business operations““ if an agreement on its asset sales had been reached, the firm said in a September 17 statement. When the talks failed, Goldray laid off about 20% of its staff “in order to manage costs within reduced revenue forecasts.““ “Most of our business is in the U.S. and so as the U.S. economy goes, we go,” Michael Newson, interim chief executive, said. “It“s a very competitive industry and we were affected by 9/11 and by the high Canadian dollar.” On 22 September 2003, the company said it decided to seek protection under the Bankruptcy & Insolvency Act following an “exhaustive process““ review of various strategic alternatives, including possible debt and equity financings, mergers and asset sale possibilities. “This action will allow Goldray reasonable time to deal with the creditors of the corporation on an equitable basis and to consider written expressions of interest to purchase the assets of the corporation as a going concern,““ the company said. In the first six months of 2003, Goldray lost CAD 492,000, nearly all of it in the 2Q. It lost a higher total of CAD 669,000 in the first six months of 2002. Revenue totalled CAD 6.8 million, down from CAD 6.86 million. As of 30 June 2003, the company said it had liabilities totalling CAD 3.3 million. The lightly traded stock is valued at CAD 0.15 a share on the junior TSX Venture Exchange.