Former Brisbane Lions sponsor goes bust, leaving 200 workers in limbo

9 hours ago 1

A logistics company that just four years ago was the Brisbane Lions’ major sponsor has gone into voluntary administration, placing about 200 jobs across the country at risk.

XL Express, based at Archerfield in Brisbane’s south, brought in FTI Consulting to act as administrators last week to determine the best path forward for the company’s creditors.

ASIC documents show FTI’s Kelly Trenfield, Joanne Dunn and Ross Blakeley were appointed administrators of the XL Express group of companies on Friday. Trenfield and Dunn are based in Brisbane, and Blakeley in Melbourne.

XL Express is a former major sponsor of the Brisbane Lions.

“The administrators are conducting an urgent assessment of the business to consider its continued viability,” an FTI spokesman said.

“Where services are unable to be fulfilled, arrangements are being made for customers to collect their goods held in XL Express Group distribution centres.

“The administrators will investigate the financial position of the companies and provide a report to creditors in due course.”

The spokesman said the first creditors’ meeting was due to be held on Wednesday next week.

One employee, who did not want to be named, said XL Express staff had demanded answers but were met with silence from the company.

“On Tuesday [last week], I received a message from the company saying there would be no service on Wednesday and that we would return to work on Thursday, but unfortunately, that did not happen,” he said.

Josh Millroy of the Transport Workers’ Union hopes XL Express can recover and pay employees and contractors what they’re owed.

“On Wednesday afternoon, we received a message from our boss saying the company was declaring bankruptcy, and then wishing us good luck in our new ventures.

“We were all speechless because no one expected this.”

Transport Workers’ Union Queensland director of organising Josh Millroy said it was monitoring the situation closely and hoped XL Express could recover and ensure all employees and contractors were paid what they were owed.

“We know there are companies making millions of dollars in profits who continue to squeeze their supply chains and force them to the brink in order to protect their own bottom line,” he said.

“These pressures are forcing a race to the bottom, which is resulting in an enormous number of smaller transport companies bidding against each other for work and taking contracts that end up operating at a loss.

“This makes protecting vital workplace protections for transport workers and owner drivers ... all the more important.”

The employee said staff were desperate as there had been issues with workers getting paid on time since May.

“There are dozens of employees who need to be paid, who have families and bills to pay,” he said.

In a letter to subcontractors in May, obtained by this masthead, XL Express Distribution national operations general manager Andrew Mallory said payment terms were being extended from two to three weeks, meaning workers faced a longer wait to be paid.

“We understand that this may create some challenges for you, and we want to assure you that this decision was not made lightly,” he said.

Calls to XL Express’s Archerfield headquarters went unanswered and comment was separately sought from the company’s managing director, Colin Mallory.

In 2019, when announcing the two-year sponsorship deal with the Lions, Colin Mallory said he was excited to be the main sponsor on the club’s home guernseys for the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

“We share similar journeys in that we are both based in Queensland and compete on the national stage,” he said.

“We look forward to sharing in the successes that this partnership will bring to both of our organisations.”

In April last year, XL Express signed an 11-year lease at a 24,349-square-metre industrial facility at Somerton, in Melbourne’s north.

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