The Queensland based franchise Kleenmaid Group (Kleenmaid) has gone into administration. The franchisor appointed Deloitte partners, John Greig, Richard Hughes and David Lombe, as administrators to take control of the group and investigate the affairs of the business.

Fifteen of the group’s 20 retail outlets are franchised and there are 30 franchisees providing in-home servicing.

Group joint administrator John Greig said “We do have a small amount of stock that will be made available to franchisees without warranty but this is likely to be exhausted very quickly as there is no intention to order any more stock from manufacturers or suppliers in the future.

“Unfortunately Kleenmaid will not be in a position to honour any existing warranties and we would advise warranty holders to contact the existing Kleenmaid service representatives who are all independent service franchisees to make arrangements to repair any faulty items at the customers cost.”

He added “Unfortunately we have been unable to continue the employment of all 150 Kleenmaid staff. However, around 25 employees will return to Kleenmaid to provide assistance with the administration process and dealing with enquiries.”

The kitchen and laundry appliance group was founded by Andrew and Brad Young in 1985 and had a turnover of $90 million in the year to June 2008. The business has about 2,800 trade creditors who are owed approximately $12 million.