Further evidence of continuing tough trading conditions emerged this week with the news that Innovation TK,
Further evidence of continuing tough trading conditions emerged this week with the news that Innovation TK, Questech and Hobbins Sides have all ceased trading in the past few weeks.Telecine manufacturer Innovation TK (ITK) called in the administrator two weeks ago but hopes to find a buyer for the business. Meanwhile, design boutique Hobbins Sides called in the receiver last week after what co-founder Mark Hobbins described as 'a difficult two years'. In addition, digital video effects (DVE) manufacturer Questech is being liquidated after calling it a day at the end of May.A total of 45 jobs have been lost as a result although the firms had already made a number of redundancies in the run-up to calling in the administrators.ITK co-founder Delphi Durrant said her firm was 'carrying a large debt' but that receiver Baker Tilly was in discussion with several interested parties in the UK, US and elsewhere and that the hope was to sell the firm as a going concern. In the meantime, measures have been put in place to provide support for the firm's 27 customers worldwide.Durrant said: 'We have a new scanner on the drawing board and four machines in stock. We hope to come out of this a leaner, meaner company.'Questech technical operations director Richard Crook put the demise of the Charisma DVE manufacturer down to 'tough conditions' over the past couple of years. However, he has since set up a company called CharismaTech to provide spares and support services for Charisma customers.Meanwhile, Hobbins Sides has also taken the decision to liquidate. Co-founder Mark Hobbins said a number of projects had been cancelled or postponed recently and that there was nothing big on the horizon: 'We have had 10 years of quite good business but every one of our markets has been hit one way or another ... We decided to do the honourable thing and call in the receiver. We hope to sell the assets and we have minimal debts - we didn't want to be deceitful by continuing to trade so we decided to err on the safe side.'