Windsor Farm Foods creditors were told at a meeting on Friday it was believed the company had not turned a profit since 2008 and had recorded a $2 million loss in the six months to December 2012.
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Administrator Trevor Pogroske from Grant Thorton held the first creditors meeting for Windsor Farm Foods Group Limited and Windsor Farm Foods Pty Limited at the Cowra Bowling Club, attended by 70 odd people including creditors, Cowra Mayor Cr Bill West, council general manager Paul Devery, a representative from NSW Trade and Investment, beetroot farmer Ed Fagan and local cannery employees.
One creditor was not present for the administrators to appropriately deal with the Cowra Export Packers Limited and Cowra Canners Pty Limited side of the business.
Creditors were given a timeline of events that led to the company being placed into voluntary administration.
A director from Windsor Farm Foods had approached the administrator on March 11 with concerns the company would soon become insolvent.
A day later, the company was placed into voluntary administration with 70 plus workers left without a job and stood down without pay as there was "no cash in the bank".
Mr Pogroske read a letter from the directors to the meeting where they said they had exhausted all avenues to improve cash flow.
This included approaching the government for assistance and negotiating supply deals with supermarkets.
However, none of these returned a positive outcome and when a major shareholder decided not to continue to inject money into the business or accept a takeover offer, the company was in financial strife.
This, coupled with a high Australian dollar and increasing costs, proved too much for the company to continue.
Creditors were given some hope when they were told there were 29 buyers interested in purchasing the business, but of these, some only wanted the cannery while others were looking at the dry food section of the company.
Cr West said of the meeting the "mood was obviously very sombre".
"Like everybody, I share the concerns and feel for the workers and creditors in this time of uncertainty," he said.
Cr West said he hoped the next creditors meeting on April 16 would shed more light on the situation but he would be watching with keen interest news about potential purchasers.
