The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
FIFTEEN Clare jobs in Xtra-Vision are safe for the moment at least, despite the company going into receivership this week.
There are two Xtra-Vision stores in the county, one in the Market in Ennis and the other at SkyCourt in Shannon.
A statement was released on Monday on behalf of the directors of Xtra-vision, which said, “The directors of Xtra-Vision Limited today announce that the company continues to trade as normal after it had requested that its parent would appoint a receiver to the company. As a result, joint receivers, Luke Charleton and Colin Farquharson, of Ernst & Young, were appointed receivers today.
“Although Xtra-Vision generated Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) of €1.5 million in 2012 and is currently forecast to do the same in 2013, it has become unable to meet its debts as they fall due as a result of the withdrawal of trade credit by a number of its key suppliers. These suppliers indicated that they took this action following the withdrawal of credit insurance, upon which they normally rely. While the company’s retail business continues to grow, its movie rental business has declined more rapidly than anticipated, most noticeably in areas with high-speed broadband, which is linked to high levels of illegal downloading.
“The shareholder of Xtra-Vision has advised the receiver that it will facilitate, in any practical respect, the sale of a restructured business over the next few weeks.”
The company has also confirmed that all gift cards and customer credit balances remain unaffected and are fully redeemable.
