Budget jeweller has closed with $20m debts

The Australian-based, privately owned, budget jeweller, Kleins, which has 200 outlets across the country, including Western Sydney, New Zealand and South Africa, has collapsed with debts of more than $20 million and ceased trading. The company collapsed because it failed to move with the times, it relied on a business model built on franchise subsidies and with management failing to to keep its eye on the balls, said, administer, James Stewart, of Ferrier Hodgson, in The Australian Financial Review. The company had a turnover to about $40 million.