The Bookseller.com

5th December 2008

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Art distributor faces legal fight

18.07.08 Catherine Neilan

At least 12 publishing houses across the UK and Europe are set to take legal proceedings against distributor Art Books International after the firm went into voluntary liquidation last Monday.

Working as a collective, the group of publishers is seeking to retrieve unpaid monies and stock that has not been sold. Hampshire-based ABI is an international distributor of art, design, architecture and photography books, covering more than 3,000 titles from roughly 30 publishers throughout Europe, the UK and India.

A major complaint has been the lack of information offered to publishers. "We received an email at the end of April, and that was the last we heard from them, apart from the monthly statements," said a source. "After several email attempts and phone calls, it felt as though they were constantly avoiding contact."

It was not until another publisher contacted firms using ABI as a distributor to discuss the lack of communication that alarm bells started ringing, the source said. "If you compare the monthly statements, there is a noticeable difference in sales between April–May and May–June. It looks as though they either stopped selling or slowed down completely over this time."

Final confirmation of the planned liquidation was sent via email on 2nd July, and followed up with letters over the next few days. Accountancy firm Chantrey Vellacott DFK has been brought in to oversee the voluntary liquidation. David Oprey, partner at Chantrey Vellacott, said the process would take a minimum of a year.

However, he was unable to disclose how much was owed to publishers. He explained: "Lots of books have been provided to the company on a sale-or-return basis, so until they have been returned to the rightful owners, we won't know how much is owed."

ABI was taken over by Sussex-based distributor Vine House International at the end of 2006. No other Vine House subsidiaries are understood to be facing similar difficulties. No one from ABI or Vine House was available for comment.

Catherine Neilan Art Books International Vine House International