Postcard company seeks court protection

JOHN HINDE, the postcard company synonymous with images of thatched cottages and red-haired children, has fallen victim to the recession.

High rents and falling tourist numbers have forced it to seek protection from creditors, the first step in a bid to restructure its operations, which have lost money for three out of the last four years.

The company is most closely associated with traditional images of Ireland that are still hugely popular with tourists. One of its most famous pictures features a pair of red-haired children leading a donkey carrying two baskets of turf across a Connemara bog.

It has been producing images since 1956, when English photographer, John Hinde, established his business after falling in love with the Irish landscape when he visited here with a circus.

John Hinde Ltd is the Irish division of the Wicklow-based Hinde Group, which has operations in Britain and the US and focuses on personalised gifts and souvenirs.

The international businesses are separate from John Hinde Ltd and are not affected by the local company’s problems.

The High Court granted John Hinde Ltd protection from its creditors last week, and the firm is due back there on October 7th, when it will seek to have accountant, Alan McClean of Whitside Cullinan appointed as examiner.

If the court appoints Mr McClean, he will have up to 100 days to come up with a rescue plan. A spokesman said yesterday the company was optimistic that the court would appoint the examiner.

He said the case is straightforward. The rent it is paying on its premises at the IDA Business Park in Bray, Co Wicklow was agreed during the boom. It has been seeking to have it cut to a level that reflects the current climate.

He stressed that the landlord, Solitude Ltd, has made some concessions and is in negotiations with the company, but it needs further cuts to remain viable.

Over the last three years, the company laid off six people and management and staff took pay cuts. The spokesman said a realistic rent reduction would allow it to return to profitability and safeguard the remaining 21 jobs.

John Hinde Ltd grew rapidly from its foundation, opening in Africa and Britain in the 1960s. In 1972, Mr Hinde sold the business to Waterford Crystal and it then expanded into the US. Waterford sold it to private shareholders in 1989.