Kleins jewellery in administration

An Australia-based jewellery retailer with 16 New Zealand stores has gone into voluntary administration.

Kleins, which has between 48 to 80 staff in New Zealand, has collapsed owing more than $A20 million ($NZ24.2 million).

The company's affairs are being handled in New Zealand by BDO Spicers. Joint administrator Stephen Tubbs said a media statement would probably be issued on his company's website within the next day.

Staff said the New Zealand stores closed on Friday but resumed trading after a stock-take.

"We were all taken aback, there was no warning whatsoever," a Wellington staff member said today.

Australian administrator James Stewart, of Ferrier Hodgson, said it was too early to assess the company's exact financial position.

"We have only just started going through the books so it is too early to comment on the scale of the debt or the depth of the company's financial position," he said.

Mr Stewart said the administrators would consider the sale of the business on a going-concern basis, and the business would continue to operate while its financial records were being examined.

Privately-owned Kleins, which has been trading for more than 24 years, has 200 outlets across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, including around 150 franchised stores and 50 company managed stores.

It sells a range of jewellery and fashion accessories through small retail outlets based mostly in regional shopping malls.

- NZPA