He has called in KPMG to review the fair carrying value of all the company's assets and is confident there will be a turnaround. When we know the fair carrying value, we will be in a position to go forward. And it has confirmed there will be more asset writedowns. Austrim has also called in the corporate doctors at Pelorus to restructure the textiles division to put it on the auction block. With all of Austrim's 36 businesses under review, the final writedown bill is anyone's guess.
Austrim insiders say even the good parts of the group have struggled.
It also lost lucrative contracts. At the same time, projects for its plant hire operations became bogged down in red tape. But Austrim Textiles had its own problems, which according to one ex-manager, was linked to Jackson's insatiable acquisition strategy. They put the managers of the good parts in charge of something that was three times as large. Other ex-managers reject that argument, saying the business was hindered more by external structural issues that have seen many Australian manufacturers going to the wall.