Hills Hoist goes into administration after bitter court battle

One of Australia’s most well-known companies has been placed into administration after losing a court battle with a $5.48m payout attached.

Hills, the company behind the iconic Hills Hoist clothesline, was placed into administration on Friday afternoon.

The company’s shares last traded at 2.3 cents, which valued the company at just $12.3m.

Hills was founded by Lance Hill in 1945, who invented the iconic  Hills Hoist clothesline in Adelaide, revolutionising the way laundry was dried outdoors.

The company continued to diversify over the years, manufacturing TV anternnas, automotive components, electronic security, and healthcare technology.

Hills  sold the manufacturing and sale rights of the Hills Hoist to AMES Australasia in 2017, after concluding it could not make money from the iconic product.

By 2000, the company had revenues in excess of $1billion, but at the end of the March 2023 quarter the company had a cash balance of $2.8million after reporting a loss of $23.9million in 2022.

The business had fallen upon hard times after struggling to compete against Chinese companies that now dominate the manufacturing sector.

The final nail in the coffin for the company was a court case, after it fell out with supplier Stellar Vision Operators over contractual matters.  

The court case was originally dismissed in 2022, yet an appeal from Stellar saw the decision overruled and a $5.48 million payout ordered to be paid on May 18.

Following the decision, Hills requested that its shares be suspended as it negotiated the next steps with Stellar.

Hills said they were ‘seeking a voluntary suspension pending resolution and an announcement by the company in relation to ongoing settlement negotiations between the parties and other stakeholders, including the financier, which, if not satisfactorily resolved, have the potential to have a significant impact on the company’s financial condition’.

Hills was founded by Lance Hill in 1945, who manufactured the Hills Hoist and from there grew the business into a manufacturing giant

Hills chief executive David Clarke saying the outcome was ‘incredibly disappointing’.

‘This is not an outcome we ever envisaged, particularly following our successful capital raising in April, which brought on board a new cornerstone investor and, we believed, set up Hills for long-term success,’ Mr Clarke said.

‘To have the company enter administration as a result of a historic legal action over a transaction that long predates the current management and board, and has never had any bearing on the operations of the business, is incredibly disappointing.

‘Our consistent legal advice was that this legal claim would ultimately be resolved in Hills’ favour, which made the Court of Appeal ruling so unexpected.

‘The board and management have worked tirelessly through the standstill period in an attempt to negotiate a commercial outcome with Stellar Vision that would protect the interests of all Hills shareholders, employees and other stakeholders.

‘However, we have been unable to reach an agreement that satisfied the requirements of all stakeholders.’