BBQ Bling notes with some regret that the US Housing crisis has claimed another victim, Aussie icon Barbeques Galore's US affiliate filed for bankruptcy protection on August 15, citing a decline in home sales, as a ``trigger'' for its grill sales.The petition for Chapter 11 protection, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in California listed assets and debts of $10 million to $50 million each. Barbeques Galore estimated it has from 1,000 to 5,000 creditors and said that it plans to sell the company or form ``a consensual liquidating plan'' with its bank lenders.
The company, based in Carlsbad, California, is the world's largest specialty retailer of barbecues and accessories, and operates 65 stores, with 400 employees, in the U.S. mostly throughout California, Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
Affiliate Barbeques Galore Ltd., based in Auburn, Australia, and not included in the filing, was acquired by Australian buyout firm Ironbridge Capital in August 2005.
The first US Barbeques Galore store opened in 1980. From 1997 to 2005, the company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq before its acquisition by Ironbridge Capital.
Ironbridge bought the company just before housing sales started to decline, the company said, citing annual revenue of $102.3 million for its fiscal year ended Jan.31, down 18 percent from $124.2 million two years ago.It projects another 18 percent decline for fiscal 2009.
Source: Bloomberg
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