STARLEATON UNDER ADMINISTRATION

Industry hardware and consumables supplier Starleaton is in voluntary administration, with Simon Cathro and Andrew Blundell of Cathro & Partners, Sydney, now in charge.

Creditors are invites to contact Cathro and Blundell to lodge claims for outstanding invoices, with a first meeting of creditors expected by the end of the month. The administrators are fielding calls from companies looking to acquire the business.

Since its inception 45 years ago family owned Starleaton has grown to become one of the major suppliers to the ANZ wide format sector, with a range of print equipment from blue chip manufacturers such as Epson, Canon and Roland DG, and consumables from the likes of 3M, Neschen and Coldenhove. It also supplies the Zünd range of cutters.

The company operates from facilities in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Auckland, with some 70 staff on the payroll. It moved its national headquarters from Brookvale to larger premises in St Leonards a year ago.

Ben Eaton, son of the founders Peter and Lea Eaton, who retired in 2017, is managing director, with siblings Josh and Melissa also directors of the holding company. Eight years ago Starleaton bought rival DES, which had itself merged with Michael Laird’s Cyrachrome a decade earlier.

While the wide format sector has grown exponentially over the past 20 years, Starleaton operates in an increasingly competitive landscape, which in recent years has seen the two national paper merchants, Ball & Doggett and Spicers, enter wide format supplies with both consumables and hardware. In addition, there are half a dozen strong players competing in the same space including the likes of Graphic Art Mart, Ricky Richards, Hexis, HVG, Kissel + Wolf, Orafol and Spandex, and virtually all the equipment manufacturers also supply consumables.

Starleaton has always been a strong supporter of the industry, playing a major role in local shows PacPrint and Visual Impact. Ben Eaton is, or was, acting president of suppliers association Visual Connections, but has now resigned to focus entirely on Starleaton. Mitch Mulligan is now acting president of Visual Connections, which says, "The challenges for businesses over the past few years cannot be overstated, and we are still seeing the flow-on impacts from that today.”