BCN hits the wall

BCN Technology has officially shut its doors following the closure of three interstate branch offices.

CRN understands that the company has debts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to its vendor partners.

CRN ventured out to the Homebush office and warehouse of BCN after numerous attempts to contact the owner, Ken Lowe.

A staff member outside the office confirmed the company had officially closed. It is believed that BCN's Sydney office had 20 staff.

A BCN creditor, the local branch of Taiwanese component vendor MSI Computer, is owed close to $0.5 million.

“BCN does owe MSI money and our head office in Taiwan is looking at taking legal action to recoup it. However I can’t say how much they owe, however the distributor doesn’t owe as much as half a million dollars,” Harlem Chiang technical and marketing executive MSI said.

“The company has been having some financial difficulties for the past six months. It has recently undertaken a clearance sale of its stock at clearance prices with no margins made on the products sold,” he added.

According to Chiang, the company closed its QLD branch around two months ago and the Melbourne and SA offices were closed recently. A BCN employee confirmed all three offices were no longer in operation.

Steven Liang, general manager at BCN told CRN on Monday that he could not comment on the closure of the offices, but admitted “we owe MSI money.”

On the 19 July, BCN filed a Notification of Discharge with the ASIC for loans it took out. A sources close to BCN owner Ken Lowe said he sold a private Sydney property to pay the creditors for this loan.

Industry sources have also told CRN that money is owed to Mitsubishi, Sony and LG and legal action was being considered. However, Mitsubishi’s Richard Freggi general manager electronics said he could not make a “comment on the issue”.

Industry sources close to the matter have also told CRN that BCN was experiencing financial difficulty for the last six months and that its owner, Ken Lowe, had to date been unsuccessful in his bid to find a buyer for the struggling business.