Photo by: Duane Daws
The business rescue practitioner appointed to assist financially distressed civil engineering group Protech Khuthele Holdings, Gavin Gainsford, will file an application to have the group and its Protech Khuthele and Protech Readymix subsidiaries placed under liquidation.
The group, which embarked on voluntary business rescue in early June, informed shareholders on Tuesday that Gainsford had determined that there was no reasonable prospect of rescuing the entities.
“In addition, the company is illiquid and unable to pay its debts as they become due and payable. The company cannot continue operating and incurring debts without a guaranteed source of funding for the company going forward. With this in mind, the business rescue practitioner had very little choice but to discontinue the business rescue proceedings,” the group stated.
Protech Khuthele Holdings had filed for the business rescue of seven of its subsidiaries – Protech Khuthele Properties, Impact Compaction, Protech Khuthele Property Investments, Protech Readymix, Pela Plant, South African Road Testing Services and Protech Khuthele – on June 3.
The group had experienced significant financial difficulties in the year ended February as a 33.33% joint venture project in the Democratic Republic of Congo weighed on its performance.
Protech Khuthele Holdings had incurred an after-tax loss of R111.2-million for the financial year.