Examiner appointed to hairdressing business

A High Court judge has appointed an examiner to the upmarket hairdressing chain Toni & Guy (Ireland) Ltd.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said he was satisfied that he should make the appointment of Michael McAteer based on the report received from the interim examiner which expressed confidence that the company has a resonable prospect of survival.

Examinership would be more advantageous to both the employees and creditors of the company, the judge said. A winding up would have very serious consequences, he added.

The judge also said he was conscious of comments by counsel for the Revenue Commissioners to the effect that the examiner might investigate some allegations about management issues, which had been expressed by a former financial controller of the company in an affidavit but were disputed by the company itself in replies.

The judge said he had no doubt the examiner would look at that issue. He remarked he had read the affidavits and there was nothing in those which impacted on the good faith of the petitioners for examinership.

In his affidavit, a former financial controller of the company, Dal Singh, denied allegations about his handling of the financial affairs of the company.

Among the claims made against Mr Singh was that the company had run up costs as a consequence of his "mismanagement" of fit-out projects. It was also claimed he had attempted to perpetrate a major fraud on the company resulting in a claim against it of some €1 million.

Mr Singh denied those claims and, in his affidavit, made a number of allegations about the management of the company.

Those allegations were, in turn, denied by Alan and Caroline Boyce, the directors of the company who sought examinership, with respective addresses at Addison Avenue, Glasnevin, Dublin, and Dunadry, Co Antrim.

The petition for examinership was before the court last Friday but was adjourned to yesterday to allow the sides consider Mr Singh's affidavit.

Yetserday, the court heard that the creditors represented, including the Revenue, had adopted either a neutral or positive position in relation to examinership.

Toni & Guy (Ireland) Ltd employs 60 people directly and another 270 in 14 franchise salons. When Mr McAteer was appointed interim examiner last month, the court was told the company had debts of €3.85 million.