COVID-19 Puts Office Supplies into Voluntary Administration

COVID-19 Puts Office Supplies into Voluntary Administration

New Zealand Office Supplies has been placed into voluntary administration, a victim of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Administrator Steven Khov (pictured) says NZ Office Supplies sales were affected by Covid-19 level 4 lockdown restrictions in New Zealand, arguably amongst the toughest regulations anywhere in the world.

The government has provided small businesses such as New Zealand Office Supplies with financial support. But despite receiving NZ$239,000 (US$144,760) in wage subsidies, it has been placed into voluntary administration.

According to The New Zealand Herald, the stationery distributor that acquired Fuji Xerox last year was placed into voluntary administration by its sole-director Michael Manikas​.

Khov Jones administrator Steven Khov was appointed on May 1 and said the company’s sales “dropped to the floor” because of the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown restrictions. Khov said the company was trading through the administration and paying the 34 staff 80 per cent of their wages.

New Zealand began mandatory quarantines for all visitors on March 15, one of the strictest policies in the world at the time, even though there were just six cases nationwide. Just 10 days later, it instituted a complete, countrywide lockdown, including a moratorium on domestic travel. The Level 4 restrictions meant grocery stores, pharmacies, hospitals, and petrol stations were the only commerce allowed; vehicle travel was restricted, and social interaction was limited to within households.

“We must fight by going hard and going early,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured) said in a statement to the nation on March 14.

The sudden austerity could have been a cause for panic. But each day, the 39-year-old Ardern, or “Jaz” as she’s popularly known, made clear, concise statements about the situation to the nation, bolstered by a team of scientists and health professionals. A few days after the lockdown, she announced that instead of just slowing the transmission of the virus, New Zealand had set a course of eradicating COVID-19 from its shores, by cutting off the arrival of new cases and choking out existing ones with the restrictions. “We have the opportunity to do something no other country has achieved: elimination of the virus,” said Ardern at one of her daily briefings.

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