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Iconic drinks brand Billson's Beverages Pty Ltd (also known as Billson's Brewery) has been thrown a lifeline and avoided liquidation following a creditors' vote on the future of the company today.
The company, which is housed in a 159-year-old brewery in Beechworth in north-east Victoria, went into administration in July.
A report from creditors McGrath Nicol published last week outlined three options for the company — an end to the administration, a deed of company arrangement or liquidation.
Administrators recommended the second option as it offered the best return for creditors.
Company owners Nathan and Felicity Cowan outside the historic brewery. (Supplied: Facebook)
In a statement on social media, owners Nathan and Felicity Cowan said they were "thrilled" to have secured the future of the company and brewery.
"This morning, our proposal to restructure and recapitalise the business was approved by our creditors. This marks a pivotal milestone for us of which we are truly grateful," the statement read.
"The restructure will allow us to refocus on what we love most: the Beechworth venue experience, our range of traditional flavours and the site's pristine alpine spring water.
"Importantly, this plan safeguards roles for all of our amazing, resilient team members, with opportunities for new hires/rehires to help us through what promises to be a bustling summer."
Business community welcomes news
The president of business advocacy group Beechworth Inc, Katerina Witherow, said the company was a "big player" in the town and welcomed the news it would keep trading.
She said she was pleased to hear staff at the company would be staying.
Billson's current owners bought the business in Beechworth seven years ago. (Supplied: Billson's Brewery)
"It's been a difficult time for business to trade post-COVID," she said.
"Especially in these times, it's so hard and difficult out there at the moment and we do have a lot of empty shops in town.
"I also hope they've learnt a lot of lessons along the way, as we all do when we're in business.
"This is their chance to hopefully have another go at it."
Ms Witherow said the brewery building was an important part of Beechworth's history and heritage and it was important that "someone can take control of it and use it".
"And put some heart and soul into it, which they have," she said.
"I hope that things will get better for Billson's and I hope that they have a vision to go forward," she said.
The company owners and administrator have been contacted for further comment.
Billson's rise and fall
The administrator's report has laid bare the company's dazzling rise and fall.
It was started in 2017 by Mr Cowan, a "tree changer" from Melbourne who acquired the historic brewery, which hadn't been used to produce beer or alcoholic drinks since the 1920s".
It grew "at a substantial rate", the report read, from $400,000 in revenue in the 2018 financial year to $105 million in revenue by the 2023 financial year.
Continuing with their "overt revenue growth strategy", the company invested strongly in sales, marketing, product development, overheads and built their inventory to meet sales targets, the report read.
Billson's range of alcoholic drinks will potentially be sold off under the restructure. (ABC Goulburn Murray: Jason Katsaras)
But things then took a turn.
The report said that from November 2023, sales declined "principally due to over-stocking of key customers, intense competition from new entrants and Billson's Beverages' relative high prices in a market under cost of living pressures".
It also battled production quality issues in August 2023, which led to inventory destruction costs, according to the report.
When the company went into administration, it had 101 employees, more than half of whom were made redundant.
Under the restructuring voted on today, the company is expected to return more than $12 million to National Australia Bank (NAB), one of its secured creditors.
Employee entitlements are about $400,000.
It owes more than $7 million to 142 unsecured creditors who are expected to receive less than 10 cents for every dollar.
The report said that since October, administrators had been negotiating with "an unrelated confidential party" to potentially sell off the alcoholic component of the business.
This was likely to be completed in January.
A significant portion of the proceeds will be used to fund the deed of company arrangement.